crouch

• IPA^(key): /kɹaʊt͡ʃ/
• Rhymes: -aʊtʃ

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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.

crouch (third-person singular simple present crouches, present participle crouching, simple past and past participle crouched)

1. (intransitive) To 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.

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

     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.

2. (intransitive) To bend servilely; to bow in reverence or humility.
   • c. 1587–1588, , Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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:

     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,

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

     Must I stand and crouch
     Under your testy humour?

   • 1816, William Wordsworth, Thanksgiving Ode:

     a crouching purpose

crouch (plural crouches)

1. A bent or stooped position.

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

From Middle English crouche, cruche, from Old English crūċ (“cross”). Compare Old Saxon krūci (“cross”), Old High German krūzi (“cross”). Doublet of cross and crux.

crouch (plural crouches)

1. (obsolete) A cross.

• Crouch End

crouch (third-person singular simple present crouches, present participle crouching, simple past and past participle crouched)

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

• crouch ware, crouchware (etymologically unrelated)

• Crochu

crouch

1. Alternative form of crucche