different between squirt vs quirt

English

Etymology

From Middle English squirten, squyrten, of uncertain origin; probably imitative. Akin to swirl. Compare Low German swirtjen (“to squirt”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Whence the "child" sense?”)

Pronunciation

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

Noun

squirt (countable and uncountable, plural squirts)

1. An instrument from which a liquid is forcefully ejected in a small, quick stream.
2. A small, quick stream; a jet.
   • 2007, Peter Elst, Sas Jacobs, Object-Oriented ActionScript 3.0, page 9,

     Chances are you?ll get a squirt of citrus juice in your eye.

3. (hydrodynamics) The whole system of flow in the vicinity of a source.
4. A burst of noise.
5. (slang) An annoyingly pretentious person; a whippersnapper. [From 1839.]
   • 1946, Robert Penn Warren, All the King?s Men, 2005, page 606,

     He was still there when I came up, a squirt with his hat over one eye and a camera hung round his neck and a grin on his squirt face. I thought maybe I had seen him around town, but maybe not, the squirts look so much alike when they grind them out of journalism school.

6. (Britain, US, Australia, slang) A small child.

   Hey squirt! Where you been?

   • 1986, Alethea Helbig, Agnes Perkins, Cutlass Island, entry in Dictionary of American Children?s Fiction, 1960-1984: Recent Books of Recognized Merit, page 137,

     Hurd returns with Mal, Mr. Eph, and Gumbo, the “town squirt” of twelve, and the boys? activities come out.

   • 2010, Karen Witemeyer, A Tailor-Made Bride, Bethany House Publishers, US, page 66,

     How the child managed to converse and fold at the same time was a marvel, yet the shirt lay in a tidy rectangle by the time she came up for air.

     “Thanks, squirt.” He winked at her and she giggled.

7. (slang, vulgar, uncountable) Female ejaculate.
8. (informal) A piss.

   Excuse me, I need to take a squirt.

Synonyms

• (instrument that forcefully ejects liquid):
• (small, quick stream):
• (annoyingly pretentious person):
• (small child): anklebiter

Derived terms

• sea squirt
• squirt bottle

Translations

Verb

squirt (third-person singular simple present squirts, present participle squirting, simple past and past participle squirted)

1. (intransitive, of a liquid) To be thrown out, or ejected, in a rapid stream, from a narrow orifice.

   The toothpaste squirted from the tube.

   • 1865, Sabine Baring-Gould, The Book of Werewolves, 2008, Forgotten Books, page 121,

     His servants would stab a child in the jugular vein, and let the blood squirt over him.

2. (transitive, of a liquid) To cause to be ejected, in a rapid stream, from a narrow orifice.
   • 1985, The Living Australia, Dangerous Australians: The Complete Guide to Australia?s Most Deadly Creatures, 2002, Murdoch Books, page 88,

     It can squirt this poison in jets up to a distance of one metre and usually aims at the eyes of its victim.

   • 2005, Lisa Heard, NancyRayhorn, 8: Pediatric Sedation, Jan Odom-Forren, Donna Watson, Practical Guide To Moderate Sedation/Analgesia, 2nd Edition, page 171,

     When administering the medication, the RN should place the syringe tip along the side of the mouth and slowly squirt the medicine toward the buccal vestibule, not toward the throat.

   • 2011, James Balch, Mark Stengler, Prescription for Natural Cures, unnumbered page,

     Use a dropper and squirt the desired amount in the side of the child?s mouth.

3. (transitive) To hit with a rapid stream of liquid.
   • 2010, Christy Isbell, Mighty Fine Motor Fun: Fine Motor Activities for Young Children, page 81,

     Ask the child to squirt the target with water.

4. (transitive, figuratively, obsolete) To throw out or utter words rapidly; to prate.
5. (intransitive, slang, vulgar, of a female) To ejaculate.
   • 2010, Sonia Borg, Oral Sex She?ll Never Forget, page 9,

     Women who squirt rhapsodize about the experience, reporting that it elicits feelings of empowerment and a deeper connection to their own bodies.

Synonyms

• (to be ejected in a rapid stream):
• (to cause to be ejected in a rapid stream):
• (to eject a rapid stream at):
• (to speak rapidly):
• ((of a female) to ejaculate):

Related terms

• squirter

Translations

Anagrams

• quirts

English

Etymology

From Spanish cuerda (“cord”), or Mexican Spanish cuarta (“whip”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kw??t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kw?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Noun

quirt (plural quirts)

1. A rawhide whip plaited with two thongs of buffalo hide.
   • about 1900, O. Henry, Hygeia at the Solito

     He sprang into the saddle easily as a bird, got the quirt from the horn, and gave his pony a slash with it.

   • He paused a moment and flicked a sage-brush with his quirt.

   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, The Understanding Heart, Chapter I:

     […] when the young man whirled his horse, “hazed” Jupiter in circles and belaboured him with a rawhide quirt, […] He ceased his cavortings […]

   • 1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin (2001), page 96:

     She raised the handle of her beautiful quirt to her eyes and scanned the Western horizon.

   • 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing:

     He rode his horse with the reins tied and he wore a pistol at his belt and a plain flatcrowned hat of a type no longer much seen in that country and he wore tooled boots to his knees and carried a quirt.

Translations

Verb

quirt (third-person singular simple present quirts, present participle quirting, simple past and past participle quirted)

1. To strike with a quirt.

Synonyms

• (to whip or scourge): Thesaurus:whip