# squad
## English
### Etymology 1

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

#### Alternative forms

* escouade (archaic)

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈskwɒd/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈskwɑd/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒd

#### Noun

squad (plural squads)
* A group of people organized for some common purpose, usually of about ten members.
** A unit of tactical military personnel, or of police officers, usually of about ten members.
*** 1912, 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.
** (cricket, soccer, rugby) A group of potential players from whom a starting team and substitutes are chosen.
** (informal) A collective noun for a group of squid.
*** 1970, TV Guide, volume 18: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.
* (firefighting) Short for squad truck.
* (slang) One's friend group, taken collectively; one's peeps.
** 2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 52:anyway, sheʼs resigned herself to hanging out with the squad at uni rather than going manhunting

##### Derived terms

* awkward squad
* bomb squad
* cheer squad
* circular firing squad
* death squad
* firing squad
* flying squad
* fraud squad
* Freud squad
* God squad
* goon squad
* hit squad
* hold-up squad
* mendicancy squad
* pep squad
* police squad
* practice squad
* red squad
* rummage squad
* snatch squad
* split-squad
* squad automatic weapon
* squad bay
* squad car
* squaddie
* squad goal
* squad room
* suicide squad
* tac squad
* taxi squad
* touring squad
* truth squad
* vice squad

##### Related terms

* squadron

##### See also

* Appendix:English collective nouns

#### Verb

squad (third-person singular simple present squads, present participle squadding, simple past and past participle squadded)
* (intransitive) To act as part of, or on behalf of, a squad.
    We squad on the fifth of the month.
* (transitive, US, medical slang) To transport by ambulance.

### Etymology 2

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

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈskwæd/

#### Noun

squad
* (UK, dialect) Sloppy mud. [from 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: /esˈkwad/ [esˈkwað̞]
* Rhymes: -ad

### Noun

squad m (plural squads or squad)
* squad