squat
pronunciation
How to pronounce squat in British English:
UK [skwɒt]
How to pronounce squat in American English:
US [skwɑt]
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- Noun:
- exercising by repeatedly assuming a squatting position; strengthens the leg muscles
- a small worthless amount
- the act of assuming or maintaining a squatting position
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- Verb:
- sit on one's heels
- be close to the earth, or be disproportionately wide
- occupy (a dwelling) illegally
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- Adjective:
- short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature
- having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground
Word Origin
- squat
- squat: [13] Someone who squats is etymologically ‘forced together’ – and indeed the verb originally meant ‘squash, flatten’ in English (‘This stone shall fall on such men, and squat them all to powder’, John Wyclif, Sermons 1380). Not until the early 15th century did the modern sense (based on the notion of hunching oneself up small and low) emerge. The word was adapted from Old French esquatir, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix es- and quatir ‘press flat’.This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *coactīre ‘press together’, a verb based on Latin coāctus, the past participle of cōgere ‘force together’ (from which English gets cogent [17]). The adjectival use of squat for ‘thickset’, which preserves some of the word’s original connotations of being ‘flattened’, is first recorded in 1630. Swat ‘slap’ [17] originated as a variant of squat.=> cogent, swat
- squat (v.)
- mid-14c., "to crush;" early 15c., "crouch on the heels," from Old French esquatir, escatir "compress, press down, lay flat, crush," from es- "out" (see ex-) + Old French quatir "press down, flatten," from Vulgar Latin *coactire "press together, force," from Latin coactus, past participle of cogere "to compel, curdle, collect" (see cogent). Meaning "to settle on land without any title or right" is from 1800. Related: Squatted; squatting.
- squat (n.)
- c. 1400, "bump, heavy fall," from squat (v.). Meaning "posture of one who squats" is from 1570s; that of "act of squatting" is from 1580s. Slang noun sense of "nothing at all" first attested 1934, probably suggestive of squatting to defecate. Weight-lifting sense is from 1954.
- squat (adj.)
- early 15c., "crouch on the heels, in a squatting position," from squat (v.)). Sense of "short, thick" dates from 1620s.
Example
- 1. She prefers squat toilets feeling they are more sanitary .
- 2. What you do is squat up and down really fast .
- 3. Holding dumbbells while doing the squat will make them more challenging .
- 4. The bathroom is tight , with a shower that drains into the squat toilet .
- 5. They have attracted some 80000 camp-followers , many of whom squat on supposedly protected land .