crouch

What it means

1. intransitiveTo bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear.

   We crouched behind the low wall until the squad of soldiers had passed by.

   1 more example

   Archer and Jacob jumped up from behind the mound where they had been crouching with the intention of springing upon their mother unexpectedly, and they all began to walk slowly home.

   1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob's Room

   Synonyms: huddle

2. intransitiveTo bend servilely; to bow in reverence or humility.

   a crouching purpose

   1816, William Wordsworth, Thanksgiving Ode

   2 more examples

   kings ſhall crouch vnto our conquering ſwords, And hoſtes of Souldiers ſtand amazd at vs, When with their fearfull tongues they ſhall confeſſe Theſe are the men that al the world admires,

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

   Must I stand and crouch Under your testy humour?

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

In a sentence

We crouched behind the low wall until the squad of soldiers had passed by.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*ger-“to turn, wind, weave”
2. Proto-Indo-European*gerg-“wicker, bend”
3. Proto-Germanic*krōkaz“hook”
4. Old Norsekrókr“hook”
5. Middle Englishcrouchen“to bend, crouch”
6. Englishcrouch

From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.