squat
/skwɑt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.48 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Relatively short or low, and thick or broad.
noun
A position assumed by bending deeply at the knees while resting on one's feet.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Any of various modes of callisthenic exercises performed by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Any of various modes of callisthenic exercises performed by moving the body and bending at least one knee.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A place of concealment in which a hare spends time when inactive, especially during the day; a form.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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. […]"
- "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 […]"
- "[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, […]"
- "Sit in a squat, with your feet a comfortable distance apart."
- "The king of all quad exercises, and arguably the best single-weight resistance exercise, is the squat."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Old French es- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin co- Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Latin cōgō Latin coāctusder. Old French quatir Old French esquatirder. Middle English squatten English 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 coāctus, perfect passive participle of cōgō (“force together, compress”). The sense “nothing” is synchronically analyzable as a clipping of diddly-squat, although diachronically the direction of derivation is uncertain.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: squatten, esquatir, coāctus, squatina
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /skwɑt/
- British English: /skwɒt/