crouch
part of speech
verb (crouch, crouches, crouched, crouching); noun (a crouch)
meaning for a pupil
1) To crouch means to bend your knees and lower your body close to the ground, leaning forward a little. tree →
2) A crouch is that low, bent position. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: To bend low in defeat. Isaiah says the proud will only crouch among the captives. Interpretation: Read as the humiliation of those who rely on their own power instead of God. In the primary lessons: In PE and sport: sprinters crouch at the start of a race; goalkeepers crouch ready to dive. In safety drills: in an earthquake, «drop, cover and hold on» (crouch under a sturdy table); in a fire, crouch low because smoke rises; during lightning with no shelter, crouch low and away from tall things. In nature, cats crouch before they pounce. Phrases: crouch down, crouch behind, in a crouch.
examples
- They can do nought except crouch under the captives, and fall under the slain. (Prophets ISA.10.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- The cat crouched low, ready to pounce. tree →
- Crouch down under your desk during the earthquake drill. tree →
- We crouched behind the bush during hide-and-seek. tree →
- Sprinters crouch at the starting line. tree →
- Stay low and crouch if there is smoke. tree →
- I crouched to tie my shoelace. tree →
- The young man crouched low to the ground. tree →
note
Regular verb: crouched, crouching. Similar: squat (sitting on your heels), kneel (resting on your knees), duck (lower your head quickly).
In the corpora
- They can do nought except crouch under the captives, and fall under the slain.
- He croucheth, he boweth down, and the helpless fall into his mighty claws.
- Crouch low, and roll when you fall instead of slamming down a stiff arm.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «crouch» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.