What does squirt mean?
Squirt describes the sudden movement of a small amount of liquid, powder, or another fine substance from a narrow opening. As a verb, it emphasizes the brief, forceful discharge: a hose can squirt water, or a bottle may squirt foam when opened. As a noun, a squirt is the jet or small quantity produced in this way. The word also has a long-standing informal use for a person regarded as insignificant or irritating, especially in expressions such as “little squirt.” While spray can cover a wider, more general discharge, squirt often suggests a concentrated stream or brief spurt. The word is useful because it captures both the physical action and the characteristic sharp, sudden movement associated with it.
To force a small amount of liquid, powder, or another substance out in a sudden, narrow stream.
"The cracked pipe began to squirt water onto the pavement."
Often transitive or intransitive; the object may be the substance being expelled or the source from which it is expelled.
A sudden, narrow jet of liquid or powder, or a small quantity of such a substance.
"A squirt of paint landed on the artist's sleeve."
The informal sense meaning an insignificant or annoying person is chiefly used in dismissive expressions such as “little squirt.”
The plural is used for individual jets or small amounts of liquid, and informally for insignificant people.
"The pipe released several small squirts before the flow became steady."
A squirt can describe a sudden jet of liquid or, in informal English, a person dismissed as insignificant.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does squirt come from?
The word is recorded in Middle English in senses connected with the sudden discharge of liquid. Its precise origin is uncertain, and it is not securely reducible to a single confidently identified root. Modern noun and verb uses developed from this early sense, with the dismissive noun sense appearing as an informal extension.
Related word forms
How squirt is actually used
The physical meanings are neutral in formal registers, though the noun meaning for a person is informal and usually dismissive or teasing. In British and American English, squirt generally refers to a more concentrated or forceful jet than spray, but the distinction is not absolute.