squat

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 coactus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”).

The sense “nothing” may be the source or a derivation of diddly-squat.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skwɒt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /skwɑt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɒt

squat (comparative squatter, superlative squattest)

1. Relatively short or low, and thick or broad.
   • 1681, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Creeping Insects [part I, section VII, chapter III]”, in Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or a Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham College. [...] Whereunto is Subjoyned the Comparative Anatomy of Stomachs and Guts, London: Printed by W. Rawlins, for the Author, OCLC 228732352, page 176:

     The SQUILL-INSECT. […] So called from ſome ſimilitude to the Squill-fiſh: chiefly, in having a long Body cover'd with a Cruſt compoſed of ſeveral Rings or Plates. The Head is broad and ſquat. He hath a pair of notable ſharp Fangs before, both hooked inward like a Bulls horns.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, in Men and Women, London: Chapman & Hall, OCLC 1561924, stanza XXXI:

     What in the midst lay but the Tower itself? / The round squat turret, blind as the fool's heart, / Built of round stone, without a counterpart / In the whole world. […]

   • 1927 March, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Colour Out of Space”, in Amazing Stories, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, published September 1927, ISSN 0002-6891:

     On the gentle slopes there are farms, ancient and rocky, with squat, moss-coated cottages brooding eternally over old New England secrets in the lee of great ledges […]

2. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten books by John Milton. Licensed and Entred According to Order, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker under Creed Church neer Aldgate; and by Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Bishopsgate-street; and Matthias Walker, under St. Dunstons Church in Fleet-street, OCLC 767532218, book IV; republished as Thomas Newton, editor, Paradise Lost. A Poem, in Twelve Books, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson [et al.], 1750, OCLC 642605710, page 324, lines 799–803:

     [H]im there they found, / Squat like a toad, cloſe at the ear of Eve, / Aſſaying by his deviliſh art to reach / The organs of her fancy', and with them forge / Illuſions as he liſt, phantaſms and dreams, […]

A weightlifter performing a squat

A squat toilet in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

squat (plural squats)

1. A position assumed by bending deeply at the knees while resting on one's feet.
   • 2006, Yael Calhoun; Matthew R. Calhoun, Create a Yoga Practice for Kids: Fun, Flexibility, and Focus, Santa Fe, N.M.: Sunstone Press, →ISBN, page 72:

     Sit in a squat, with your feet a comfortable distance apart.

2. (weightlifting) A specific exercise in weightlifting performed by bending deeply at the knees and then rising, especially with a barbell resting across the shoulders.
   • 2001, Robert Wolff, Robert Wolff's Book of Great Workouts: Everything You Need to Know to Vary Your Routine and Keep You Motivated, Lincolnwood and Chicago, Ill.: Contemporary Books, →ISBN, pages 58–59:

     The king of all quad exercises, and arguably the best single-weight resistance exercise, is the squat.

3. A building occupied without permission, as practiced by a squatter.
   • 1996 July 8, Chris Smith, “Live free or die”, in New York, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Co., ISSN 0028-7369, page 36:

     "Keeping your friends warm and dry, that doesn't happen here. If you want to spend a night in a squat, it's all political to get in." Lately, as buildings have filled and become stringent about new admissions, much of the squatters' "My house is your house" rhetoric has become hollow.

4. A toilet used by squatting as opposed to sitting; a squat toilet.
5. (slang, Canada, US) Clipping of diddly-squat; something of no value.

   Synonyms: nothing; see also Thesaurus:nothing

   I know squat about nuclear physics.

   • 2003 May 6, “Dear Dotti: America's Most Outspoken Advice Columnist”, in Weekly World News‎, volume 24, number 34, New York, N.Y.: American Media, ISSN 0199-574X, page 23:

     We didn't ask for rent, but we assumed they'd help around the house. But they don't do squat.

6. (obsolete) A sudden or crushing fall.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Herbert to this entry?)

7. (mining) A small vein of ore.
8. A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Woodward to this entry?)

A young boy squatting in a park

squat (third-person singular simple present squats, present participle squatting, simple past and past participle squatted)

1. To bend deeply at the knees while resting on one's feet.
   • 1901, Miles Franklin, chapter 2, in My Brilliant Career, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood & Sons, OCLC 156678278:

     He was not going to squat henlike on his place as the cockies around him did.

2. (weightlifting) To exercise by bending deeply at the knees and then rising, while bearing weight across the shoulders or upper back.
   • 1994, Kurt Brungardt; Mike Brungardt; Brett Brungardt, The Complete Book of Butt and Legs, New York, N.Y.: Villard Books, →ISBN, page 161:

     For those who are having, or have had, trouble squatting we suggest learning how to squat by performing the front squat […] The front squat allows you almost no alternative but to perform the exercise correctly.

3. To occupy or reside in a place without the permission of the owner.
   • 1890, Jacob [August] Riis, chapter 7, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, OCLC 753988680:

     Huddled together in loathsome files, they squat there over night, or until an inquisitive policeman breaks up the congregation with his club, which in Mulberry Street has always free swing.

4. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.
5. (dated) To bruise or flatten by a fall; to squash.

• squattage
• squatter
• squatting
• squattocracy

An 1877 illustration of an angelshark or monkfish (Template:taxllink), the type species for squats or angel sharks

From Latin squatina.

squat (plural squats)

1. The angel shark (genus Squatina).

• Quast, quats

From English squat.

• IPA^(key): /skwat/

squat m (plural squats)

1. Squat (building occupied without permission, as practiced by a squatter).

   taper un squat

   to squat an apartment; do stupid and useless things

2. Uninvited presence in a building or place (the result of which can be welcomed).

   on va taper un squat chez Jérôme ?

   let's crash at Jérôme's place?

3. Squat effect

   Parmi les inconvénients du squat, la modification de l'écoulement des filets d'eau, perturbé par la proximité du fond, provoque des difficultés de gouverne, des vibrations, et une diminution de la vitesse.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

4. (weightlifting) Squat

   C'est Vlad Alhazov qui détient le record du monde au squat, avec 1250lbs (566,99 kilo).

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• squattage
• squatter
• squattériser
• squatteur

• “squat” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• IPA^(key): /ˈskwat/, [ˈskwat̪]
• IPA^(key): /esˈkwat/, [esˈkwat̪]

squat m (plural squats)

1. squat (exercise)