squatter

 
Pronunciation: /ˈskwɒtə/

noun

  • 1a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land: the police moved in and evicted the squatters [as modifier]: a squatter camp
  • North American & Australian/NZ historical a settler with no legal title to the land occupied, typically one on land not yet allocated by a government.
  • 2Australian/NZ a large-scale sheep or cattle farmer: [as modifier]: one of the wealthiest and most prominent squatter families of northern Victoria
  • historical a person occupying a tract of pastoral land as a tenant of the Crown.