Either crouching on your heels with your legs bent, or illegally occupying an empty building or land.
From French 'esquatir' (to squat), possibly from Old Norse 'skotta' (to throw). The verb developed two parallel meanings: the physical position and the legal occupation of property.
Squatting for land rights became such a major legal issue in colonial America and Australia that 'squatter' became an official legal term—the physical verb became a legal status.
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