squat
verb/skwɒt/
/skwɑːt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they squat | /skwɒt/ /skwɑːt/ |
| he / she / it squats | /skwɒts/ /skwɑːts/ |
| past simple squatted | /ˈskwɒtɪd/ /ˈskwɑːtɪd/ |
| past participle squatted | /ˈskwɒtɪd/ /ˈskwɑːtɪd/ |
| -ing form squatting | /ˈskwɒtɪŋ/ /ˈskwɑːtɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] squat (down) to sit on your heels with your knees bent up close to your body
- Children were squatting on the floor.
- When we saw them we squatted down behind a wall.
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- [intransitive, transitive] squat (something) to live in a building or on land which is not yours, without the owner’s permission
- They ended up squatting in the empty houses on Oxford Road.
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘thrust down with force’): from Old French esquatir ‘flatten’, based on Latin coactus, past participle of cogere ‘compel’, from co- ‘together’ + agere ‘drive’ The current sense of the adjective dates from the mid 17th cent.
Check pronunciation:
squat