squat (v.)

mid-14c., squatten, "to crush, flatten" (a sense now obsolete); early 15c., "crouch on the heels," from Old French esquatir, escatir "compress, press down, lay flat, crush," from es- "out" (see ex-) + Old French quatir "press down, flatten," from Vulgar Latin *coactire "press together, force," from Latin coactus, past participle of cogere "to compel, curdle, collect" (see cogent). The meaning "settle on land without any title or right" is from 1800 (compare squatter). Related: Squatted; squatting.

early 15c., "crouched on the heels, in a squatting position," from squat (v.)). The sense of "short, thick" is by 1620s.

c. 1400, "a bump, a heavy fall," from squat (v.). The meaning "posture of one who squats" is from 1570s; that of "act of squatting" (especially to defecate) is from 1580s. The slang noun sense of "nothing at all" is attested by 1934, probably suggestive of defecation. Weight-lifting sense is from 1954.