Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SPUT'TER-ING, ppr.

Emitting in small particles; uttering rapidly and indistinctly; speaking hastily; spouting.

SPU'TUM, n. [L.]

1. Spittle; saliva discharges from the mouth. – Hall.
2. In medicine, that which is expectorated, or ejected from the lungs.

SPY, n. [It. spia; Fr. espion; Sp. espia; D. spiede; G. späher; Dan. spejder; W. yspeiaw, to espy, to explore; yspeithiaw, to look about; yspaith, that is open, visible; paith, an opening, a prospect, a glance. Class Bd; unless the word is a contraction, and of Class Sg.]

1. A person sent into an enemy's camp to inspect their works, ascertain their strength and their intentions, to watch their movements, and secretly communicate intelligence to the proper officer. By the laws of war among all civilized nations, a spy is subjected to capital punishment.
2. A person deputed to watch the conduct of others. – Dryden.
3. One who watches the conduct of others. These wretched spies of wit. – Dryden.

SPY, v.i.

To search narrowly; to scrutinize. It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuse. – Shak.

SPY, v.t.

1. To see; to gain sight of; to discover at a distance, or in a state of concealment. It is the same as espy as, to spy land from the mast-head of a ship. As tiger spied two gentle fawns. – Milton. One in reading skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration. – Swift.
2. To discover by close search or examination; as, a lawyer in examining the pleadings in a case, spies a defect.
3. To explore; to view, inspect and examine secretly; as country; usually with out. Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof. – Num. xxi.

SPY'-BOAT, n. [spy and boat.]

A boat sent to make discoveries and bring intelligence. – Arbuthnot.

SPY'-GLASS, n.

The popular name of a small telescope, useful in viewing distant objects.

SPY'ISM, n.

The act or business of spying.

SQUAB, a. [In G. quappe is a quab, an eelpout; quabbelig, plump, sleek; quabbeln, to be plump or sleek, and to vibrate, Eng. to wabble; Dan. quabbe, an eelpout; quopped, fat, plump, jolly, our vulgar whopping; quopper, to shake.]

1. Fat; thick; plump; bulky. Nor the squab daughter, nor the wife were nice. – Betterton.
2. Unfledged; unfeathered; as, a squab pigeon. – King.

SQUAB, adv.

Striking at once; with a heavy fall; plump. The eagle dropped the tortoise squab upon a rock. [Low and not used.] – L'Estrange. [The vulgar word awhap or whop, is used in a like sense in America. It is found in Chaucer.]

SQUAB, n.

1. A young pigeon or dove. [This word is in common or general use in America, and almost the only sense in which it is used is the one here given. It is sometimes used in the sense of fat, plump.]
2. A kind of sofa or couch; a stuffed cushion. [Not used in America.]

SQUAB, v.i.

To fall plump; to strike at one dash, or with a heavy stroke. [Not used.]

SQUAB'BISH, or SQUAB'BY, a.

Thick; fat; heavy. – Harvey.

SQUAB'BLE, n.

A scuffle; a wrangle; a brawl; a petty quarrel. – Arbuthnot.

SQUAB'BLE, v.i. [I know not the origin of this word, but it seems to be from the root of wabble; G. quabbeln, to vibrate, to quake, to be sleek. See Squab.]

1. To contend for superiority; to scuffle; to struggle; as, two persons squabble in sport. – Shak.
2. To contend; to wrangle; to quarrel. – Glanville.
3. To debate peevishly; to dispute. If there must be disputes, it is less criminal to squabble than to murder. [Squabble is not an elegant word in any of its uses. In some of them it is low.]

SQUAB'BLER, n.

A contentious person; a brawler.

SQUAB'BLING, ppr.

Scuffling; contending; wrangling.

SQUAB'-PIE, n. [squab and pie.]

A pie made of squabs or young pigeons.

SQUAD, n. [Fr. escouade.]

A company of armed men; a party learning military exercise; any small party.

SQUAD'RON, n. [Fr. escadron; It. squadra, a squadron, a square; Sp. esquadron; from L. quadratus, square; quadro, to square; allied to quatuor, four.]

1. In its primary sense, a square or square form; and hence, a square body of troops; a body drawn up in a square. So Milton has used the word. Those half rounding guards / Just met, and closing stood in squadron join'd. [This sense is probably obsolete, unless in poetry.]
2. A body of troops, infantry or cavalry, indefinite in number.
3. A division of a fleet; a detachment of ships of war, employed on a particular expedition; or one third part of a naval armament. – Mar. Dict.

SQUAD'RON-ED, a.

Formed into squadrons or squares. – Milton.

SQUAL'ID, a. [L. squalidus, from squaleo, to be foul. Qu. W. qual, vile.]

Foul; filthy; extremely dirty. Uncomb'd his locks, and squalid his attire. – Dryden.

SQUAL-ID'-I-TY, or SQUAL-ID-NESS, n.

Foulness; filthiness.

SQUAL'ID-LY, adv.

In a squalid, filthy manner.

SQUALL, n.

1. A loud scream; a harsh cry. – Pope.
2. [Sw. sqval.] A sudden gust of violent wind. – Mar. Dict.