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#142 - Absquatulate
Apr. 6th, 2025 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mxcatmoonThis week's word is
Absquatulate
intransitive verb
abzˈkwächəˌlāt
From Merriam-Webster:
1. Decamp. Leave abruptly.
"A frontiersman preparing to absquatulate and head for the wilderness."
2. Abscond.
"The cashier absquatulated with the funds."
From Vocabulary.com:
To run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along. Absquatulate is a deeply silly word that means to make off with something or someone. Why say a thief ran away with your money when it's much more fun to say he absquatulated with it?
The word absquatulate came out of an odd fad in America in the 1830s for making playful words that sounded vaguely Latin. Bloviate ("speak pompously") and discombobulate ("make confused") are two other pseudo-Latin coinages from that era. Absquatulate takes the word squat and adds the prefix ab- "off, away" and the verb ending -ulate to suggest getting up and leaving quickly. It's hardly ever used nowadays, mostly showing up as an example of an absurd word.
Note from Mod:
I thought the above was fun info. I have to say that I do use the word discombobulate (it's one of my favorite words!), so I can see myself incorporating absquatulate into my vocabulary as well.
Absquatulate
intransitive verb
abzˈkwächəˌlāt
From Merriam-Webster:
1. Decamp. Leave abruptly.
"A frontiersman preparing to absquatulate and head for the wilderness."
2. Abscond.
"The cashier absquatulated with the funds."
From Vocabulary.com:
To run away; usually includes taking something or somebody along. Absquatulate is a deeply silly word that means to make off with something or someone. Why say a thief ran away with your money when it's much more fun to say he absquatulated with it?
The word absquatulate came out of an odd fad in America in the 1830s for making playful words that sounded vaguely Latin. Bloviate ("speak pompously") and discombobulate ("make confused") are two other pseudo-Latin coinages from that era. Absquatulate takes the word squat and adds the prefix ab- "off, away" and the verb ending -ulate to suggest getting up and leaving quickly. It's hardly ever used nowadays, mostly showing up as an example of an absurd word.
Note from Mod:
I thought the above was fun info. I have to say that I do use the word discombobulate (it's one of my favorite words!), so I can see myself incorporating absquatulate into my vocabulary as well.
