different between squab vs quab

English

Etymology

Unknown, unattested before 17th c.. Possibly descended from Swedish dialect skvabb (“fatty, flabby”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?skw?b/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?skw?b/

Noun

squab (plural squabs)

1. (sometimes attributive) A baby pigeon, dove, or chicken.
2. The meat of such a baby bird used as food.
3. A baby rook.
4. A thick cushion, especially a flat one covering the seat of a chair or sofa.
   • a. 1744, Alexander Pope (imitating Earl of Dorset), Artemisia, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain, page 86,

     On her large ?quab you find her ?pread, / Like a fat corp?e upon a bed, / That lies and ?tinks in ?tate.
5. A person of a short, fat figure.
   • a. 1800, William Cowper, The Progress of Error, 1824, Poems of William Cowper, Esq, page 28,

     Gorgonius sits abdominous and wan, / Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan:

Synonyms

• (baby pigeon): piper, squeaker, pigeon chick, young pigeon, baby dove
• (baby rook): rook chick, young rook

Translations

Verb

squab (third-person singular simple present squabs, present participle squabbing, simple past and past participle squabbed)

1. (obsolete) To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke.
2. (transitive) To furnish with squabs, or cushions.
3. (transitive) To stuff thickly and sew through, the stitches being concealed by buttons, etc.

Adjective

squab (comparative more squab, superlative most squab)

1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky.
   • 1712, Thomas Betterton, The Miller of Trompington

     Nor the squab daughter nor the wife were nice.

2. Unfledged; unfeathered.
   • 1836, Richard King, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean

     broken limbs of trees, eggs, and young squab pigeons precipitated from above

3. Clumsy.
4. Curt; abrupt.
5. Shy; coy.

Adverb

squab (not comparable)

1. (slang) With a heavy fall; plump.

Anagrams

• quabs

English

Etymology 1

Noun

quab (plural quabs)

1. An unfledged bird.
2. (by extension) Something immature or unfinished.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ford to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Verb

quab (third-person singular simple present quabs, present participle quabbing, simple past and past participle quabbed)

1. Alternative form of quob