squat
squat Lexical Profile
squat Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A strength-training exercise in which a person lowers the hips from a standing position by bending the knees and then stands back up, often while supporting a weighted barbell across the upper back.
"She added three sets of heavy barbell squats to her weekly lower-body workout routine."
A crouching posture in which the knees are deeply bent and the buttocks are resting on or near the heels.
"The catcher dropped into a deep squat behind home plate to signal the next pitch."
Nothing at all, or the slightest amount (used in informal contexts).
"Despite talking confidently at the meeting, he doesn't know squat about international tax law."
An unoccupied building or premises that people live in without the legal permission of the owner.
"During the housing shortage, several abandoned warehouses were converted into communal squats by local artists."
• verb
To crouch or sit low with the knees bent and the heels close to or touching the buttocks or the backs of the thighs.
"The gardener squatted beside the raised bed to inspect the young tomato seedlings."
To unlawfully occupy an uninhabited building or settle on a piece of land without title, right, or payment of rent.
"A group of transients had been squatting in the vacant storefront for months before the property owner noticed."
To lift a specified weight while performing a deep knee-bend exercise.
"After a year of consistent strength training, the powerlifter could squat over four hundred pounds."
• adjective
Short and disproportionately thick, wide, or low to the ground.
"The ancient stone watchtower had a squat, sturdy profile that withstood centuries of coastal storms."
• Rhymes for squat
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed into Middle English from Old French 'esquasser' or 'esquatir', meaning 'to crush or press flat', which ultimately derives from Vulgar Latin '*excoactare' (from Latin 'ex-' and 'coactus', the past participle of 'cogere', meaning 'to force together').