squat

Meaning

Adj

1. Relatively short or low, and thick or broad.
2. Sitting on one's heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering or crouching.

Noun

1. A position assumed by bending deeply at the knees while resting on one's feet.
2. Any of various modes of callisthenic exercises performed by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
3. Any of various modes of callisthenic exercises performed by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
4. A building occupied without permission, as practiced by a squatter.
5. A place of concealment in which a hare spends time when inactive, especially during the day; a form.
6. A toilet used by squatting as opposed to sitting; a squat toilet.
7. (Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang) Clipping of diddly-squat; something of no value.
8. A small vein of ore.
9. A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar.
10. Squat effect.
11. (obsolete) A sudden or crushing fall.

Verb

1. To bend deeply at the knees while resting on one's feet.
2. To perform one or more callisthenic exercises by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
3. To perform one or more callisthenic exercises by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
4. To occupy or reside in a place without the permission of the owner.
5. To sit close to the ground; to stoop, or lie close to the ground, for example to escape observation.
6. (dated) To bruise or flatten by a fall; to squash.
7. (Internet) To cybersquat.
8. (slang) To retire a modeling kit or group of modeling kits.

Noun

The angel shark (genus Squatina).

Synonyms

crouch

sit

🪑

dumpy

cower

hunker down

squatting

stumpy

podgy

squatty

sit on one’s heels

squat down

hunker

stocky

chunky

doodly-squat

crouch down

diddly-squat

diddly

diddlyshit

diddlysquat

diddly-shit

scrunch

scrunch up

diddley

sit down

squab

shit

💩

underslung

knee bend

bend down

jack

low-set

be squatting

squat about

thickset

occupy

kneel

perch

dwelling

compact

drop down

brief

chubby

deep

hutch

curtsy

carry

barrack

hut

🛖

curl up

Translations

s’accroupir

hocken

squat

hurken

kauern

être accroupi

accroupissement

sich hocken

kraakpand

accroupir

Hocke

edificio occupato

in elkaar duiken

accovacciarsi

casa occupata

Pronounced as (IPA)

/skwɒt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: squatten

In summary

From Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir, escatir (“compress, press down, lay flat, crush”), from es- (“ex-”) + quatir (“press down, flatten”), from Vulgar Latin *coactire (“press together, force”), from Latin coāctus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”).
The sense “nothing” may be the source or a derivation of diddly-squat.