squatter

Noun

squatter (plural squatters)

1. One who squats; one who sits down idly.
   • “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
2. (Australia, historical) One who occupied Crown land.
   • While settlement in New South Wales was initially confined, many moved outside the boundaries to become squatters, eventually consolidating their originally illegal hold on the land.2004, James Jupp, The English in Australia, page 62
3. (Philippines) A poor vagrant; a hobo or beggar; one suffering from extreme poverty.

   Synonyms:

   informal settler

4. (Australia, historical) A large-scale grazier and landowner.
   • Down came the squatter, a'riding his thoroughbred, / Down came policemen, one, two and three. /'Whose is the jumbuck you've got in the tucker bag? / You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.'1895, “Waltzing Matilda”, Banjo Paterson (lyrics)
   • Boldrewood was a squatter, a magistrate and a commissioner of goldfields and knew thoroughly the life he described in Robbery Under Arms (1888), the story of the bushranger Captain Starlight—first serialised in The Sydney Mail in 1881—and in his numerous other novels, which included The Squatter′s...1970, George Sampson, The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 3rd Edition, p.754
5. (informal) A squat toilet.
   • All of the toilets in both the men's and women's sides were squatters.2012, Randall L. Erickson, Traveling Business Class, page 54