The sense “nothing” may be the source or a derivation of diddly-squat.
Pronunciation
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1681, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Creeping Insects [part I, section VII, chapter III]”, in Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or a Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham College. [...] Whereunto is Subjoyned the Comparative Anatomy of Stomachs and Guts, London: Printed by W. Rawlins, for the Author, →OCLC, page 176:
The SQUILL-INSECT. […] So called from ſome ſimilitude to the Squill-fiſh: chiefly, in having a long Body cover'd with a Cruſt compoſed of ſeveral Rings or Plates. The Head is broad and ſquat. He hath a pair of notable ſharp Fangs before, both hooked inward like a Bulls horns.
What in the midst lay but the Tower itself? / The round squat turret, blind as the fool's heart, / Built of round stone, without a counterpart / In the whole world. […]
On the gentle slopes there are farms, ancient and rocky, with squat, moss-coated cottages brooding eternally over old New England secrets in the lee of great ledges […]
[H]im there they found, / Squat like a toad, cloſe at the ear of Eve, / Aſſaying by his deviliſh art to reach / The organs of her fancy', and with them forge / Illuſions as he liſt, phantaſms and dreams, […]
2001, Robert Wolff, Robert Wolff's Book of Great Workouts: Everything You Need to Know to Vary Your Routine and Keep You Motivated, Lincolnwood and Chicago, Ill.: Contemporary Books, →ISBN, pages 58–59:
The king of all quad exercises, and arguably the best single-weight resistance exercise, is the squat.
1996 July 8, Chris Smith, “Live free or die”, in New York, New York, N.Y.: New York Magazine Co., →ISSN, page 36:
"Keeping your friends warm and dry, that doesn't happen here. If you want to spend a night in a squat, it's all political to get in." Lately, as buildings have filled and become stringent about new admissions, much of the squatters' "My house is your house" rhetoric has become hollow.
He was not going to squat henlike on his place as the cockies around him did.
(weightlifting) To exercise by bending deeply at the knees and then rising, while bearing weight across the shoulders or upper back.
1994, Kurt Brungardt, Mike Brungardt, Brett Brungardt, The Complete Book of Butt and Legs, New York, N.Y.: Villard Books, →ISBN, page 161:
For those who are having, or have had, trouble squatting we suggest learning how to squat by performing the front squat […] The front squat allows you almost no alternative but to perform the exercise correctly.
Huddled together in loathsome files, they squat there over night, or until an inquisitive policeman breaks up the congregation with his club, which in Mulberry Street has always free swing.
The angel shark (genus Lua error in Module:parameters at line 780: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template.).
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing. (See the entry for “squat”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Parmi les inconvénients du squat, la modification de l’écoulement des filets d’eau, perturbé par la proximité du fond, provoque des difficultés de gouverne, des vibrations, et une diminution de la vitesse.
(please add an English translation of this usage example)