Link Centre Dictionary

crouch

UK/ˈkɹɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/ US/ˈkɹaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ uncommon obsolete
verb (2) noun (1)

verb

1.

bend one''s back forward from the waist on down

  • “he crouched down”
  • “She bowed before the Queen”
  • “The young man stooped to pick up the girl”
Synonyms
2.

sit on one''s heels

  • “In some cultures, the women give birth while squatting”
  • “The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm”
Synonyms

noun

1.

the act of bending low with the limbs close to the body

Origin

From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.

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Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.