squit

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skwɪt/

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Etymology 1

Possibly related to squirt (“small child”); from 19th c.

Noun

squit (countable and uncountable, plural squits)

1. (derogatory, informal, countable) A person of low status.
   • 1989, Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Blackadder Goes Forth (episode "Goodbyeee"):

     Not a favourite son, of course — Lord, no! — more a sort of illegitimate backstairs sort of sprog, you know: a sort of spotty squit that nobody really likes.

   • 2000, Josie Lloyd, Emlyn Rees, Come Again, page 153:

     'It isn't so funny when it's the other way round, is it?' I snarl, before adding, 'You geeky little squit,' for good measure.

   • 2007, Katharine Whitehorn, Selective Memory, unnumbered page:

     I couldn't believe my ears: at Roedean a new girl spent at least a term having it drummed into her what an insignificant little squit she was; and here were these girls being welcoming!

2. (Norfolk, uncountable) Nonsense; amusing stories.
   • 2007, Keith Skipper, Keith Skipper's Bumper Book of Norfolk Squit: High jinks, hilarity & hot air from Norfolk's favourite raconteur‎^[1]:
   • 2007, Ann Neve, Ride Upon the Storm, page 162:

     'Cor blast, Tovell, you don't half talk some squit at times!' exclaimed Ted Carter.
     ‘Squit! It's the gospel truth. […] ’

   • 2009, Alison Weir, The Lady In The Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, page 420:

     In 1985, asked by the writer Richard Whittington-Egan if he believed in this apparition, an old local man replied that it was ‘a load of old squit.’

Etymology 2

Short for server quit.

Verb

squit (third-person singular simple present squits, present participle squitting, simple past and past participle squitted)

1. (transitive, Internet) To disconnect (an IRC server) from a network.
   • 1994, Bernhard Lorenz, “ChanOp for Irc Opers”, in alt.irc (Usenet):

     […] these problems solved themselves atfter^[sic] some 10 minutes or so, without an ircop interferring^[sic] into channel affairs by squitting his/her server to gain chanop status.

   • 1996, Jesse, “A warning to all irc users”, in alt.irc (Usenet):

     Today, I was awakened by a call from one of my IRC ops, telling me that my net had been 'taken over'. An ircop had squitted all the servers, and had a script that kept them disconnected from the net.

Etymology 3

Imitative.

Noun

squit (plural squits)

1. (onomatopoeia) A light squishing or splattering sound.
   • 2007, S. M. Stirling, The Sunrise Lands, page 79:

     "Mr. Kuttner, you know I'm the best in this business, don't you?" he said, swatting at a mosquito.
     It went squit and left a smear of blood on his cheek.

   • 2021, Malcolm Devlin, Unexpected Places to Fall From, Unexpected Places to Land:

     She turned away and stalked back through the lounge, her running shoes making a squit-squit-squit sound on the tiles, punctuated by the slam of the front door.

See also

• squits (diarrhoea)

Anagrams

• Quist, quist, quits