SQUATTERING
Etymology
Verb
squattering
present participle of squatter
Adjective
squattering (comparative more squattering, superlative most squattering)
(obsolete) Straggling; messy.
It is a language (as are many others round about me) like to that of Poitou, Xaintonge, Angoulesme, Limosin, and Auvergne, squattering, dragling, and filthie.
Source: Wiktionary
SQUATTER
Squat"ter, 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 permission and restrictions, before acquiring
title.
In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were tolerated to an
extent now unknown. Macaulay.
2. (Zoöl.)
Definition: See Squat snipe, under Squat. 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.
SQUAT
Squat, n. (Zoöl.)
Definition: The angel fish (Squatina angelus
Squat, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squatted; p. pr. & vb. n. Squatting.]
Etym: [OE. squatten to crush, OF. esquater, esquatir (cf. It. quatto
squat, cowering), perhaps fr. L. ex + coactus, p. p. 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.
2. To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to
escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.
3. To settle on another's land without title; also, to settle on
common or public lands.
Squat, v. t.
Definition: To bruise or make flat by a fall. [Obs.]
Squat, a.
1. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground;
cowering; crouching.
Him there they found, Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.
Milton.
2. Short and thick, like the figure of an animal squatting. "The
round, squat turret." R. Browning.
The head [of the squill insect] is broad and squat. Grew.
Squat, n.
1. The posture of one that sits on his heels or hams, or close to the
ground.
2. A sudden or crushing fall. [Obs.] erbert.
3. (Mining)
(a) A small vein of ore.
(b) A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. Halliwell. Woodward.
Squat snipe (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local,
U.S.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition