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¹squat

verb \ˈskwät\

: to bend your knees and lower your body so that you are close to your heels or sitting on your heels

: to live in a building or on land without the owner's permission and without paying

squat·tedsquat·ting

Full Definition of SQUAT

transitive verb

: to cause (oneself) to crouch or sit on the ground

: to occupy as a squatter <squat in an abandoned building>

intransitive verb

: to crouch close to the ground as if to escape observation <a hare squatting in the grass>

: to assume or maintain a position in which the body is supported on the feet and the knees are bent so that the buttocks rest on or near the heels

: to be or become a squatter

See squat defined for English-language learners

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Origin of SQUAT

Middle English squatten to crush, crouch in hiding, from Middle French (Picard dialect) esquatir, escuater, from Old French es- ex- + quatir to hide, from Vulgar Latin *coactire to squeeze, alteration of Latin coactare to compel — more at cache

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to SQUAT

Synonyms: couch, huddle, hunch, hunker (down), scrunch, crouch, squinch

Rhymes with SQUAT

aught, baht, blot, bot, clot, cot, dot, ghat, grot, hot, jot, khat, knot, kyat, lot, lotte, Mott, motte, naught, not, plot, pot, rot, scot, Scot, shot, skat, slot, snot, sot, spot, stot, swat, swot, tot, trot, watt, Watt, what, wot, yacht

²squat

adjective

: short and thick

squat·tersquat·test

Full Definition of SQUAT

: sitting with the haunches close above the heels

a : low to the ground

b : marked by disproportionate shortness or thickness

— squat·ly adverb

— squat·ness noun

See squat defined for English-language learners

First Known Use of SQUAT

15th century

Related to SQUAT

Synonyms: chunky, dumpy, heavyset, stocky, squatty, stout, stubby, stumpy, thickset

³squat

noun

: a position in which your knees are bent and your body lowered so that you are close to your heels or sitting on your heels

: the least amount : anything at all

: an empty building that squatters live in

Full Definition of SQUAT

a : the act of squatting

b : the posture of one that squats

a : a place where one squats

b : the lair of a small animal <the squat of a hare>

: a lift in which a standing weight lifter drops to a squatting position and then rises to an upright position while holding a barbell on the shoulders; also : a competitive event involving this lift

chiefly British : an empty house or building that is occupied by squatters

slang : diddly-squat

See squat defined for English-language learners