Absquatulate
[ab-SKWACH-ə-late]
Part of speech: verb
Origin: American English, mid-19th century
1.
Leave abruptly.
Examples of Absquatulate in a sentence
"When the back porch light turned on, the sneaky raccoons absquatulated."
"As soon as the cake is cut, I want to absquatulate."
About Absquatulate
This verb is a pure Americanism. The slang term was created in the 1800s as a combination of "abscond," "squat," and "perambulate." When you break it down, you'll see that someone is picking up and running away quickly with their loot.
Did you Know?
Many English words are rooted in the classics, but Americans also love to make up their own concoctions. A trend in the 1800s involved creating words that sound as if they could be (but aren't actually) from Latin or Greek. "Absquatulate" came out of this period, as did the verbs "bloviate" (to speak long-windedly and pompously) and "discombobulate" (to confuse).
