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squat

UK/skwɒt/ US/skwɑt/ fairly common slang us
verb (3) adjective (2) noun (3)

verb

1.

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
2.

be close to the earth, or be disproportionately wide

  • “The building squatted low”
3.

adjective

1.

short and thick; as e.g. having short legs and heavy musculature

  • “some people seem born to be square and chunky”
  • “a dumpy little dumpling of a woman”
  • “dachshunds are long lowset dogs with drooping ears”
  • “a little church with a squat tower”
  • “a squatty red smokestack”
  • “a stumpy ungainly figure”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

having a low center of gravity; built low to the ground

Synonyms
Similar

noun

1.

exercising by repeatedly assuming a squatting position; strengthens the leg muscles

Synonyms
2.
3.

the act of assuming or maintaining a squatting position

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir, escatir (“compress, press down, lay flat, crush”), from es- (“ex-”) + quatir (“press down, flatten”), from Vulgar Latin *coactire (“press together, force”), from Latin coāctus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”).

Phrases

  • air squat
  • Anderson squat
  • Asian squat
  • belt squat
  • bottoms up squat
  • box squat
  • breathing squat
  • Bulgarian split squat

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.