From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_059_ecrouchcrouch /kraʊtʃ/ ●●○ verb [intransitive] 1 (also crouch down)SIT to lower your body close to the ground by bending your knees completely → squat He crouched in the shadows near the doorway. Paula crouched down and held her hands out to the fire.2 SITto bend over something so that you are very near to it → leancrouch over a young girl crouched over a book —crouch noun [countable] She dropped to the ground in a crouch.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
crouch• I gestured to the remaining woodchuck to crouch.• There were six people in the clearing, crouching around the campfire.• I crouched behind a bush as the soldiers marched by.• I crouched beside him and looked into his wild eyes.• The plumber crouched down and looked under the sink.• In the surrounding debris of apartment blocks more militia would be crouched, forming the outer defence ring of the beleaguered stronghold.• The sparrows in the ploughland were crouching in terror of the kestrel.• A black cat crouched in the corner.• Leif, the beggar, was crouched in the inglenook, stuffing his mouth full of richly sauced venison.Origin crouch (1300-1400) Perhaps from Old French crochir “to become hook-shaped”, from croche; → CROCHET 