a loudspeaker in an intercom (a telephone-like apparatus with which members of an officestaff, crew of an airplane, etc., can talk to each other). The squawk comes from the poor quality of sound usually associated with the loudspeakers in such a system (squawking or screeching) as well as, in its military origins, the continuous streams of orders (squawking or bitching). —Class VIII №3, Approved November 1990