squat´ly

squat «skwot», verb, squat|ted or squat, squat|ting, adjective, noun.

–v.i.

1. to sit on the heels; crouch: »

He found it difficult to squat on his heels for more than a few minutes.

2. to sit on the ground or floor, with the legs closely drawn up beneath or in front of the body: »

The Indians squatted around the fire. The two of them were squatting on this dirt road, talking the way farmers do (Newsweek).

3. to crouch close to the ground to avoid observation or capture, as a hare does: »

Some tenth-rate poeticule…now squats in his hole like the tailless fox (Algernon Charles Swinburne).

4. a) to occupy temporarily or settle on land without title or right: »

He was a Kentucky man, of the Ohio, where he had “squatted” (Frederick Marryat).

b) to occupy illegally an abandoned building.

5. to settle on public land to acquire ownership of it under government regulation.

–v.t.

to cause to squat; seat (oneself) with the legs drawn up.

–adj.

1. seated in a squatting position, crouching: »

A squat figure could be seen in front of the fire.

2. short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting; low and broad; flattened: »

a squat building. The Indian was a squat, dark man. That is a squat teapot.

SYNONYM(S): dumpy.

–n.

1. the act of squatting or sitting close to the ground; crouching.

2. a squatting posture.

3. a) the illegal occupation of land or of an uninhabited building, as by a squatter. b) a place, especially a building, occupied illegally. c) a person who occupies a lace illegally, often as a form of protest.

╂[< Old French esquatir to crush, ultimately < Latin ex- out + coactāre constrain < cogere drive together < co- together + agere drive]

–squat´ly, adverb.

–squat´ness, noun.