squat

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

squat, n. 

 The angel fish (Squatina angelus).  [1913 Webster]

squat, v. i. [OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. of cogere to drive or urge together. See Cogent, Squash, v. t.].

•  To sit down upon the hams or heels; as, the savages squatted near the fire.  [1913 Webster]
•  To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.  [1913 Webster]
•  To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on common or public lands.  [1913 Webster]

squat, v. t. 

 To bruise or make flat by a fall.  [1913 Webster]

squat, a. 

•  Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching.  [1913 Webster]

  "Him there they found,
  Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve."  [1913 Webster]
•  Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting.  R. Browning.  [1913 Webster]

  "The head [of the squill insect] is broad and squat."  [1913 Webster]

squat, n. 

•  The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or close to the ground.  [1913 Webster]
•  A sudden or crushing fall.  Herbert.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small vein of ore.  Halliwell. Woodward.  [1913 Webster]

Squat snipe (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local, U.S.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

squat, 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.

Derivative

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

THESAURUS

squat

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

ROGET THESAURUS

squat

Location

VB place, situate, locate, localize, make a place for, put, lay, set, seat, station, lodge, quarter, post, install, house, stow, establish, fix, pin, root, graft, plant, shelve, pitch, camp, lay down, deposit, reposit, cradle, moor, tether, picket, pack, tuck in, embed, imbed, vest, invest in, billet on, quarter upon, saddle with, load, lade, freight, pocket, put up, bag, inhabit, domesticate, colonize, take root, strike root, anchor, cast anchor, come to an anchor, sit down, settle down, settle, take up one's abode, take up one's quarters, plant oneself, establish oneself, locate oneself, squat, perch, hive, se nicher, bivouac, burrow, get a footing, encamp, pitch one's tent, put up at, put up one's horses at, keep house, endenizen, naturalize, adopt, put back, replace.

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.

Shortness

N shortness, brevity, littleness, a span, shortening, abbreviation, abbreviature, abridgment, concision, retrenchment, curtailment, decurtation, reduction, epitome, elision, ellipsis, conciseness, abridger, epitomist, epitomizer, short, brief, curt, compendious, compact, stubby, scrimp, shorn, stubbed, stumpy, thickset, pug, chunky, decurtate, retrousse, stocky, squab, squabby, squat, dumpy, little, curtailed of its fair proportions, short by, oblate, concise, summary, shortly, in short.

Thickness,

N breadth, thickness, breadth, width, latitude, amplitude, diameter, bore, caliber, radius, superficial extent, thickness, crassitude, corpulence, dilation, broad, wide, ample, extended, discous, fanlike, outspread, outstretched, wide as a church-door, latifoliate, latifolous, thick, dumpy, squab, squat, thickset, thick as a rope.

Lowness

N lowness, debasement, depression, prostration, depression, molehill, lowlands, basement floor, ground floor, rez de chaussee, cellar, hold, bilge, feet, heels, low water, low tide, ebb tide, neap tide, spring tide, low, neap, debased, nether, nether most, flat, level with the ground, lying low, crouched, subjacent, squat, prostrate, under, beneath, underneath, below, downwards, adown, at the foot of, under foot, under ground, down stairs, below stairs, at a low ebb, below par.

Depression

VB depress, lower, let down, take down, let down a peg, take down a peg, cast, let drop, let fall, sink, debase, bring low, abase, reduce, detrude, pitch, precipitate, overthrow, overturn, overset, upset, subvert, prostate, level, fell, cast down, take down, throw down, fling down, dash down, pull down, cut down, knock down, hew down, raze, raze to the ground, rase to the ground, trample in the dust, pull about one's ears, sit, sit down, couch, squat, crouch, stoop, bend, bow, courtesy, curtsy, bob, duck, dip, kneel, bend the knee, bow the knee, bend the head, bow the head, cower, recline.