Library / English Dictionary

CROUCH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of bending low with the limbs close to the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("crouch" is a kind of...):

bending (the act of bending something)

Derivation:

crouch (bend one's back forward from the waist on down)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sit on one's heels

Example:

The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm

Synonyms:

crouch; hunker; hunker down; scrunch; scrunch up; squat

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "crouch" is one way to...):

sit; sit down (be seated)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

The children crouch in the rocking chair

There crouch some children in the rocking chair

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bend one's back forward from the waist on down

Example:

The young man stooped to pick up the girl's purse

Synonyms:

bend; bow; crouch; stoop

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "crouch" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

"Crouch" entails doing...:

change posture (undergo a change in bodily posture)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crouch"):

squinch (crouch down)

cower; huddle (crouch or curl up)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

crouch (the act of bending low with the limbs close to the body)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Again we saw the dim silhouette of a crouching man and the whisk of the small flame across the window as the signals were renewed.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Their crouching gait took away from their height, but I should put them at five feet or so, with long arms and enormous chests.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As to myself, my knees gave way under me, and I found myself on the floor crouching down behind Jim, with a scream frozen in my throat.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind which I crouched.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It did not try to get away, but crouched down, quivering and cowering, and was in such a pitiable state of terror that I tried, though without effect, to comfort it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The poor betrothed girl crouched trembling and shuddering behind the cask, for she saw what a terrible fate had been intended for her by the robbers.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The head of my bed was near the door, and I thought at first the goblin-laugher stood at my bedside—or rather, crouched by my pillow: but I rose, looked round, and could see nothing; while, as I still gazed, the unnatural sound was reiterated: and I knew it came from behind the panels.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business, that since I had been so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could do was to overhear them at their councils, and that my plain and obvious duty was to draw as close as I could manage, under the favourable ambush of the crouching trees.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I could hear my heart beating as I crouched low in the boat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

These noises were not indication of danger, the cub decided, as he crouched near his mother still bristling from time to time but doing his best to submit.

(White Fang, by Jack London)