What does absquatulating mean?
Absquatulating means leaving somewhere suddenly and hastily — bolting, decamping, or making off, often to dodge a debt, an authority, or an awkward scene. It is the present participle of the verb 'absquatulate', a piece of exuberant American slang coined in the 1830s, when writers gleefully stitched Latin-sounding prefixes and suffixes onto ordinary English roots. Here the root is 'squat' (as in to settle or hide out), dressed up with 'abs-', meaning away, and a mock-Latin ending. The result sounds like something Cicero might have said if he owed money at a frontier tavern. The word is never neutral register: it is deliberately funny, faintly antique, and best deployed when you want to make an ordinary getaway sound ridiculous. A treasurer absquatulating with the funds, or a guest absquatulating before the washing-up, both benefit from its theatrical flourish.
verbTo leave a place abruptly or hurriedly; to flee or make off, often to avoid trouble, debt, or an unwelcome situation.
- To depart suddenly or hurriedly; to flee or make off, especially to escape debt, arrest, or an awkward situation.
"The treasurer had been absquatulating with the club's funds for months before anyone noticed."
"Sensing the audit was coming, the manager was absquatulating with two suitcases and a company laptop."
"The cat took one look at the vacuum cleaner and went absquatulating under the porch."
Invented in 1830s America by people who loved fake Latin so much they glued 'abs-' onto 'squat' and called it a word.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of absquatulating
Absquatulating derives from 'absquatulate', a mock-Latin coinage that appeared in American slang in the 1830s. It combines the Latin-style prefix 'abs-' (away) with the English root 'squat' and a pseudo-Latin ending, part of a wider fashion for jokey Latinate inventions such as 'discombobulate'. Its core sense of fleeing or settling off elsewhere connects it semantically to 'abscond' and literally to 'squat'.
Related word forms
How absquatulating is actually used
Deliberately humorous and informal; almost always used playfully rather than seriously. It originated as 19th-century American slang and retains a comic, old-fashioned flavor today.
Easily confused with absquatulating
Both mean to flee secretly, but 'abscond' is the standard formal term, while 'absquatulating' is a humorous, jocular Americanism.