squirt

/skwərt/

/skwət/

Other forms: squirted; squirting; squirts

To squirt is to abruptly squeeze a liquid out of something. When you spend the day at the beach, you might squirt sunblock on your arms or squirt ketchup on the fries you bought at the snack bar.

Octopuses and squid use their ability to squirt black ink to confuse their predators. Most kids enjoy using squirt guns to squirt each other with water. In both cases, the discharge itself can be called a squirt. If someone calls you a squirt, however, they mean that you're an insignificant and possibly annoying person: "Get lost, squirt! You're bothering me!"

Definitions of squirt

1. verb

   cause to come out in a squirt
   “the boy squirted water at his little sister”

   synonyms: eject, force out, squeeze out

   types:

   spritz

   eject (a liquid) quickly

   extravasate

   force out or cause to escape from a proper vessel or channel

   type of:

   discharge

   pour forth or release
2. verb

   wet with a spurt of liquid
   types:

   squish

   put (a liquid) into a container or another place by means of a squirting action

   type of:

   wet

   cause to become wet
3. noun

   the occurrence of a sudden discharge (as of liquid)
   synonyms: jet, spirt, spurt

   types:

   spray

   a jet of vapor

   spritz

   a quick squirt of some liquid (usually carbonated water)

   type of:

   discharge, outpouring, run

   the pouring forth of a fluid
4. noun

   someone who is small and insignificant
   synonyms: pip-squeak, small fry

   type of:

   cipher, cypher, nobody, nonentity

   a person of no influence