different between squad vs battalion

English

Etymology 1

From French escouade, from Italian squadra (“square”) (whence also French escadre).

Alternative forms

• escouade (archaic)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?skw?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?skw?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Noun

squad (plural squads)

1. A group of people organized for some common purpose, usually of about ten members.
   1. A unit of tactical military personnel, or of police officers, usually of about ten members.
      • 1912, in The New England magazine, volume 47:

        A squad of soldiers ordered them to disperse but instead of doing so they commenced throwing ice and rocks.

   2. (cricket, soccer, rugby) A group of potential players from whom a starting team and substitutes are chosen.
   3. (informal) A collective noun for a group of squid.
      • 1970, TV Guide:

        At one point, the 400-ton Calypso was brought to a standstill by a squad of squid which clogged the engines and caused a power failure. Other, highlights included an attack by predatory blue sharks, […]

      • 2002, Let's Go Inc., Let's Go 2003: Britain & Ireland, Let's Go Publications:

        The Sea Life Centre retains a squad of squid and such.

      • 2012, S. Louis King, Gnome Home Papers, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 546:

        There's several new symbols next to the doorway symbol. Beso pushed all six of them without waiting to see what they brought; like a herd of charging rhinos or rampaging squad of squid. Next best thing though.

      • 2017, Kristen Joy Wilks, Athens Ambuscade, Pelican Ventures Book Group (?ISBN)

        I pulled in as deep a breath as my gag allowed and began relaxing my body. I used a little trick I'd learned in college. I imagined that a friendly squad of squid were massaging every muscle on the bottoms of my feet; the tension began to drain.

2. (slang) One's friend group, taken collectively; one's peeps.

Derived terms

• firing squad
• flying squad
• God squad

Related terms

• squadron

Translations

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Verb

squad (third-person singular simple present squads, present participle squadding, simple past and past participle squadded)

1. (intransitive) To act as part of, or on behalf of, a squad.

   We squad on the fifth of the month.

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Compare squick (“disgust”), squalid (“dirty”) with similar initial sounds.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?skwæd/

Noun

squad

1. (Britain, dialect) Sloppy mud. [from the mid-17th c.]
   • 1875 March 13, Leicester Chronicle, quoted in the EDD:

     The lass ran all among the muck and squad.

   • 1895, Alfred Tennyson, The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson: Poet-laureate, page 791:

     An' she did n't not solidly mean I wur / gawin' that waäy to the bad,

     Fur the gell was as howry a trollope as / iver traäpes'd i' the squad.

Further reading

• Robert Eden George Cole, A Glossary of Words Used in South-west Lincolnshire (1886), page 140

Anagrams

• quads

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /es?kwad/, [es?kwað?]

Noun

squad m (plural squads or squad)

1. squad

English

Etymology

From French bataillon.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b??tæl??n/

Noun

battalion (plural battalions)

1. (military) An army unit having two or more companies, etc. and a headquarters. Traditionally forming part of a regiment.
2. (US, military) an army unit having two or more companies, etc. and a headquarters; forming part of a brigade.
3. Any large body of troops.
4. (by extension) A great number of things.

Synonyms

• (great number of things): heap, horde, load, mass, pile, swathe

Translations

Verb

battalion (third-person singular simple present battalions, present participle battalioning, simple past and past participle battalioned)

1. To form into battalions.

Anagrams

• antibloat