Adjacent Words

Squat definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SQUAT, v.i.
1. To sit down upon the hams or heels; as a human being.
2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; as an animal.
3. In Massachusetts and some other states of America, to settle on anothers land without pretense of title; a practice very common in the wilderness.
SQUAT, v.t. To bruise or make flat by a fall. [Not in use.]
SQUAT, a.
1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering.
Him there they found, squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.
2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting.
The head of the squill insect is broad and squat.
SQUAT, n.
1. The posture of one that sits on his hams, or close to the ground.
2. A sudden or crushing fall. [Not in use.]
3. A sort of mineral.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature; "some people seem born to be square and chunky"; "a dumpy little dumpling of a woman"; "dachshunds are long lowset dogs with drooping ears"; "a little church with a squat tower"; "a squatty red smokestack"; "a stumpy ungainly figure" [syn: chunky, dumpy, low-set, squat, squatty, stumpy]
2: having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground [syn: squat, underslung] n
1: exercising by repeatedly assuming a crouching position with the knees bent; strengthens the leg muscles [syn: knee bend, squat, squatting]
2: a small worthless amount; "you don't know jack" [syn: jack, doodly-squat, diddly-squat, diddlysquat, diddly-shit, diddlyshit, diddly, diddley, squat, shit]
3: the act of assuming or maintaining a crouching position with the knees bent and the buttocks near the heels [syn: squat, squatting] v
1: sit on one's heels; "In some cultures, the women give birth while squatting"; "The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm" [syn: squat, crouch, scrunch, scrunch up, hunker, hunker down]
2: be close to the earth, or be disproportionately wide; "The building squatted low"
3: occupy (a dwelling) illegally

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (squatted; squatting) Etymology: 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 Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. to cause (oneself) to crouch or sit on the ground 2. to occupy as a squatter <squat in an abandoned building> intransitive verb 1. to crouch close to the ground as if to escape observation <a hare squatting in the grass> 2. 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 3. to be or become a squatter II. adjective (squatter; squattest) Date: 15th century 1. sitting with the haunches close above the heels 2. a. low to the ground b. marked by disproportionate shortness or thickness • squatly adverb • squatness noun III. noun Date: 1580 1. a. the act of squatting b. the posture of one that squats 2. a. a place where one squats b. the lair of a small animal <the squat of a hare> 3. 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 4. chiefly British an empty house or building that is occupied by squatters 5. slang diddly-squat

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v., adj., & n. --v. (squatted, squatting) 1 intr. a crouch with the hams resting on the backs of the heels. b sit on the ground etc. with the knees drawn up and the heels close to or touching the hams. 2 tr. put (a person) into a squatting position. 3 intr. colloq. sit down. 4 a intr. act as a squatter. b tr. occupy (a building) as a squatter. 5 intr. (of an animal) crouch close to the ground. --adj. (squatter, squattest) 1 (of a person etc.) short and thick, dumpy. 2 in a squatting posture. --n. 1 a squatting posture. 2 a a place occupied by a squatter or squatters. b being a squatter. Derivatives: squatly adv. squatness n. Etymology: ME f. OF esquatir flatten f. es- EX-(1) + quatir press down, crouch ult. f. L coactus past part. of cogere compel: see COGENT

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat Squat, n. (Zo["o]l.) The angel fish (Squatina angelus).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat Squat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Squatting.] [OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. cogere to drive or urge together. See Cogent, Squash, v. t.] 1. To sit down upon the hams or heels; as, the savages squatted near the fire. 2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit. 3. To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on common or public lands.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat Squat, v. t. To bruise or make flat by a fall. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat Squat, a. 1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching. Him there they found, Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve. --Milton. 2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting. ``The round, squat turret.'' --R. Browning. The head [of the squill insect] is broad and squat. --Grew.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Squat Squat, n. 1. The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or close to the ground. 2. A sudden or crushing fall. [Obs.] --erbert. 3. (Mining) (a) A small vein of ore. (b) A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. --Halliwell. Woodward. Squat snipe (Zo["o]l.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local, U.S.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(squats, squatting, squatted) 1. If you squat, you lower yourself towards the ground, balancing on your feet with your legs bent. We squatted beside the pool and watched the diver sink slowly down... He came over and squatted on his heels, looking up at the boys. = crouch VERB: V, V on n • Squat down means the same as squat. Albert squatted down and examined it... She had squatted down on her heels. PHRASAL VERB: V P, V P prep • Squat is also a noun. He bent to a squat and gathered the puppies on his lap. N-SING: a N 2. If you describe someone or something as squat, you mean they are short and thick, usually in an unattractive way. Eddie was a short squat fellow in his forties with thinning hair. ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. People who squat occupy an unused building or unused land without having a legal right to do so. You can't simply wander around squatting on other people's property... They earn their living by squatting the land and sharecropping. VERB: V, V n 4. A squat is an empty building that people are living in illegally, without paying any rent or any property tax. After returning from Paris, David moved to a squat in Brixton... N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Crouch, cower, sit close to the ground. 2. [Modern.] Settle (without title to the land), plant one's self, take up one's quarters, pitch one's tent. II. a. 1. Crouching, cowering. 2. Dumpy, stubby, short and thick.

Moby Thesaurus

Lilliputian, Tom Thumb, abide, adipose, anchor, be enfeoffed of, be possessed of, be seated, be seized of, beefy, bend, berth, big-bellied, billet at, bivouac, bloated, blocky, blowzy, boast, bob, bosomy, bow, brawny, bunk, burly, burrow, buxom, camp, chubby, chunky, claim, cohabit, colonize, come to anchor, command, corpulent, couch, couchant, cower, crawl, cringe, crouch, crouched, curtsy, debased, depressed, distended, domesticate, domicile, domiciliate, doss down, drop anchor, duck, dumpy, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, dwell, elfin, enjoy, ensconce, establish residence, fat, fattish, fill, flat, fleshy, full, genuflection, get down, gross, grovel, hang out, have, have and hold, have in hand, have tenure of, heavyset, hefty, hippy, hive, hold, hug the earth, hunch, hunch down, hunker down, imposing, incipient, inhabit, keep house, knee-high, kneeling, knocked flat, kowtow, laid low, lie low, lie prone, lie prostrate, lie under, live, live at, locate, lodge, low, low-built, low-hung, low-level, low-leveled, low-lying, low-set, low-statured, lusty, meager, meaty, midget, moor, move, nanoid, neap, nest, nod, obeisance, obese, occupy, overweight, park, paunchy, people, perch, plump, podgy, populate, portly, possess, potbellied, prone, prostration, pudgy, puffy, pug, pugged, pursy, pygmy, recumbent, relocate, remain, reside, retrousse, reverence, roly-poly, room, roost, rotund, rudimental, rudimentary, runty, salaam, scraggy, scrouch down, scrubby, set up housekeeping, set up shop, settle, settle down, short, shriveled, shrunk, shrunken, sit down, snub-nosed, square, squat on, squattish, squatty, stalwart, stand, stay, stay at, stocky, stoop, stooped, stout, strapping, strike root, stubbed, stubby, stumpy, stunted, supination, supine, swat, swollen, take residence at, take root, take up residence, tenant, thick, thick-bodied, thickset, top-heavy, tubby, turned-up, underlie, undersize, undersized, unelevated, usucapt, wallow, well-fed, welter, wizened