Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small group of people organized in a common endeavor or activity.
  • noun The smallest tactical unit of military personnel.
  • noun A small unit of police officers.
  • noun Sports An athletic team.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To draw up in a squad.
  • noun Soft, slimy mud.
  • noun In mining, loose ore of tin mixed with earth.
  • noun Milit., any small number of men assembled, as for drill, inspection, or duty.
  • noun Any small party or group of persons: as, a squad of navvies; a set of people in general: usually somewhat contemptuous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mil.) A small party of men assembled for drill, inspection, or other purposes.
  • noun Hence, any small party.
  • noun Prov. Eng. Sloppy mud.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A group of people organized for some common purpose, usually of about ten members.
  • noun A unit of tactical military personnel, or of police officers, usually of about ten members.
  • noun cricket, soccer, rugby A group of potential players from whom a starting team and substitutes are chosen.
  • noun UK, dialect sloppy mud

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small squad of policemen trained to deal with a particular kind of crime
  • noun a smallest army unit
  • noun a cooperative unit (especially in sports)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete French esquade, from Old French escadre, from Old Spanish escuadra and Old Italian squadra, both from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, square; see square.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French escouade

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Examples

Comments

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  • (verb) To have squidded.

    March 14, 2008

  • i.e. the preterite of the verb "to squid"?

    Best definition ever.

    March 14, 2008

  • Precisely. Otherwise known as simple-past or past-tense. :-)

    March 14, 2008

  • “Many of the men, and it’s still almost all men, remember the days when they stood several deep around the specialists, nudging, pushing, staying put for several straight hours, shouting ‘Squad!’ for pages to hustle handwritten notes to clerks on the wings, jockeying at the banks of phones now hanging from hooks like relics.�?

    The New York Times, Financial Foot Soldiers, Feeling the Weight of the World , by Dan Barry, November 2, 2008

    November 3, 2008