MONDAY, JANUARY 13

Just a note to say how much I love this word and what it represents regarding American spunk. Naysayers are invited to take their complaints and ...

Absquatulate

[ab-SKWACH-ə-late]Part of speech: verb

Origin: american english, 1830s

To flee
To take off with somebody or something

Examples of Absquatulate in a sentence

When the back porch light turned on, the sneaky raccoons absquatulated.
Keep an eye out on the train for pickpockets trying to absquatulate with your wallet.

About Absquatulate

This verb is a pure Americanism. The slang term was created in the 1800s as a combination of "abscond," "squat," and "perambulate." When you break it down, you'll see that someone is picking up and running away quickly with their loot.

I Love This!

Many English words are inspired by Latin, but Americans also love to make up their own concoctions. A trend in the 1800s involving creating classical-sounding words inspired "absquatulate," but also the verbs "bloviate" (to speak long-windedly and pompously) and "discombobulate" (to confuse).