squat

Definitions


[skwɒt], (Verb)

Definitions:
- crouch or sit with one's knees bent and one's heels close to or touching one's buttocks or the back of one's thighs
(e.g: I squatted down in front of him)

- unlawfully occupy an uninhabited building or settle on a piece of land
(e.g: eight families are squatting in the house)


Phrases:

Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘thrust down with force’): from Old French esquatir ‘flatten’, based on Latin coactus, past participle of cogere ‘compel’ (see cogent). The current sense of the adjective dates from the mid 17th century


[skwɒt], (Adjective)

Definitions:
- short and thickset; disproportionately broad or wide
(e.g: he was muscular and squat)


Phrases:

Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘thrust down with force’): from Old French esquatir ‘flatten’, based on Latin coactus, past participle of cogere ‘compel’ (see cogent). The current sense of the adjective dates from the mid 17th century


[skwɒt], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a squatting position

- a building occupied by people living in it without the legal right to do so
(e.g: a basement room in a North London squat)



Phrases:

Origin:
Middle English (in the sense ‘thrust down with force’): from Old French esquatir ‘flatten’, based on Latin coactus, past participle of cogere ‘compel’ (see cogent). The current sense of the adjective dates from the mid 17th century




definition by Oxford Dictionaries