diquat

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Squatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Squatting. ] [ OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. of cogere to drive or urge together. See Cogent, Squash, v. t. ] 1. To sit down upon the hams or heels; as, the savages squatted near the fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on common or public lands. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bruise or make flat by a fall. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering; crouching. [ 1913 Webster ]

Him there they found,
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting. “The round, squat turret.” R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

The head [ of the squill insect ] is broad and squat. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or close to the ground. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sudden or crushing fall. [ Obs. ] Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mining) (a) A small vein of ore. (b) A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. Halliwell. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Squat snipe (Zool.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The black-bellied plover. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who squats; specifically, one who settles unlawfully upon land without a title. In the United States and Australia the term is sometimes applied also to a person who settles lawfully upon government land under legal permission and restrictions, before acquiring title. [ 1913 Webster ]

In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were tolerated to an extent now unknown. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) See Squat snipe, under Squat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Squatter sovereignty, the right claimed by the squatters, or actual residents, of a Territory of the United States to make their own laws. [ Local, U.S. ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]