• IPA: /kɹaʊt͡ʃ/

crouch (crouches, present participle crouching; past and past participle crouched)

1. (intransitive) To bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, as an animal when waiting for prey, or in fear.

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

2. (intransitive) To bend servilely; to stoop meanly; to fawn; to cringe.

   • a crouching purpose

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:

3. (intransitive) To bend, or cause to bend, as in humility or fear.

• French: se tapir, s'accroupir, se recroqueviller
• German: kauern
• Italian: accovacciarsi
• Portuguese: agachar
• Russian: приседа́ть
• Spanish: agacharse, acuclillarse, encogerse

• Russian: пресмыка́ться

• Russian: извива́ться
• Spanish: encogerse, inclinarse

crouch (plural crouches)

1. A bent or stooped position.

   The cat waited in a crouch, hidden behind the hedge.

• Spanish: inclinación, genuflexión

crouch (plural crouches)

1. (obsolete) A cross.

crouch (crouches, present participle crouching; past and past participle crouched)

1. (obsolete) To sign with the cross; bless.

• Spanish: persignarse

1. Surname
2. A ghost town in California.
3. A city/and/town in Idaho.
4. A small river in Essex, England.