squat. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

squat

PRONUNCIATION:	skwt
VERB:	Inflected forms: squat·ted, squat·ting, squats
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To sit in a crouching position with knees bent and the buttocks on or near the heels. 2. To crouch down, as an animal does. 3. To settle on unoccupied land without legal claim. 4. To occupy a given piece of public land in order to acquire title to it.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To put (oneself) into a crouching posture. 2. To occupy as a squatter.
ADJECTIVE:	Inflected forms: squat·ter, squat·test 1. Short and thick; low and broad. 2. Crouched in a squatting position.
NOUN:	1. The act of squatting. 2. A squatting or crouching posture. 3. Sports A lift or a weightlifting exercise in which one squats and stands while holding a weighted barbell supported by the back of the shoulders. 4. The place occupied by a squatter. 5. The lair of an animal such as a hare. 6. Slang A small or worthless amount; diddlysquat.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir, to crush : es-, intensive pref. (from Latin ex-; see ex–) + quatir, to press flat (from Vulgar Latin ^*coctre, from Latin coctus, past participle of cgere, to compress ( co-, co- + agere, to drive; see ag- in Appendix I).
OTHER FORMS:	squatter —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.