squad

Noun (1)

squad (plural squads)

1. A group of people organized for some common purpose, usually of about ten members.
   • He assembled a squad of ten to take on the assassin.
   1. A unit of tactical military personnel, or of police officers, usually of about ten members.
      • A squad of soldiers ordered them to disperse but instead of doing so they commenced throwing ice and rocks.1912, The New England magazine, volume 47
   2. A group of potential players from whom a starting team and substitutes are chosen.
   3. (informal) A collective noun for a group of squid.
      • At one point, the 400-ton Calypso was brought to a standstill by a squad of squid which clogged the engines and caused a power failure. Other, highlights included an attack by predatory blue sharks, […]1970, TV Guide, volume 18
      • The Sea Life Centre retains a squad of squid and such.2002, Let's Go Inc., Let's Go 2003: Britain & Ireland, Let's Go Publications
2. (slang) One's friend group, taken collectively; one's peeps.
   • anyway, sheʼs resigned herself to hanging out with the squad at uni rather than going manhunting2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 52

Verb

squad (third-person singular simple present squads, present participle squadding, simple past and past participle squadded)

1. (intransitive) To act as part of, or on behalf of, a squad.
   • We squad on the fifth of the month.
2. (US, transitive, medical slang) To transport by ambulance.

Noun (2)

IPA/ˈskwæd/

squad

1. (UK, dialectal) Sloppy mud.
   • The lass ran all among the muck and squad.1875 March 13, Leicester Chronicle, quoted in the EDD
   • An' she did n't not solidly mean I wur / gawin' that waäy to the bad,
     Fur the gell was as howry a trollope as / iver traäpes'd i' the squad.1895, Alfred Tennyson, The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson: Poet-laureate, page 791

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Squad

the Squad

1. (US) An informal group of left-wing Democrats in the House of Representatives.
   • Squad members and their allies may also have to contend with pro-Israel Super Pacs and dark-money groups spending tens of millions of dollars on attack ads in a bid to unseat them. […] “A lot of us have seen the headlines that Squad or Squad-adjacent members could be in trouble this cycle,” said...2023 December 25, David Smith, “A split among Democrats may threaten ‘the Squad’ - and help Trump - in 2024”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Squad

the Squad

1. (informal) An informal military alliance between the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines, focused on Asian security matters.
2. (broadly) A grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines.