Definition of "crouch" [crouch]

• To stoop, especially with the knees bent: crouched over the grate, searching for his keys. (verb-intransitive)
• To press the entire body close to the ground with the limbs bent: a cat crouching near its prey. (verb-intransitive)
• To bend servilely or timidly; cringe. (verb-intransitive)
• To bend (the head or knee, for example) low, as in fear or humility. (verb-transitive)
• The act or posture of bending low or crouching. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Refusing to call them on their bullshit, to hector them at every turn, to refute them at every opportunity, and to emerge from that defensive crouch is a sign of weakness that can be done without. cyates Says:"
• "His crouch was a gathering together, an assembling of all the parts of him under the rule of the spirit of him, for the spring upward to meet in mid career this monstrous, menacing thing."
• ""Just call the crouch, touch, pause, engage, and don't try to coach us," was Tialata's plea."