A novel mechanism is identified leading to negative linear compressibility (NLC) in boron arsenate which is shown to arise from deformations in the framework tetrahedra rather than more conspicuous tetrahedral rotations. Instead, such rotations, which manifest as "rotating squares" when viewed down the c direction, are found to result in negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) in the (001) plane, which in turn augments the compressibility, a phenomenon that should be applicable to other auxetic materials. It is hypothesized that the generic NLC and NPR mechanisms identified here, as well as the augmented compressibility due to auxeticity should also feature in materials and metamaterials with similar characteristics. systems such as -cristobalite isostructural crystals with an I42d or I4 symmetry. Similarly, NLC is commonly associated with wine-rack motifs [37,39] or other mechanisms. [39] Negative compressibility and negative Poisson's ratio have also long been known in the vicinity of phase transformations. [39,47] The present work will study the effect of pressure, uniaxial loading, and shearing on boron arsenate, in an attempt to unearth the mechanisms which lead to NLC and NPR in this stable member of I4 space group, through the quantitative measurement of the molecular level deformations. This will help the understanding of the mechanisms leading to such anomalous "negative mechanical behavior" in crystals and in the process pave the way to the design of novel metamaterials inspired from it.