CROTCHET

crotchet

(noun) a small tool or hooklike implement

oddity, queerness, quirk, quirkiness, crotchet

(noun) a strange attitude or habit

hook, crotchet

(noun) a sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

crotchet (plural crotchets)

(music) A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.

(obsolete) A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook

(archaic) a whim or a fancy

A forked support; a crotch.

(military, historical) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.

(military) The arrangement of a body of troops, either forward or rearward, so as to form a line nearly perpendicular to the general line of battle.

(printing) A square bracket.

Synonyms

• (musical note): quarter note (US)

Verb

crotchet (third-person singular simple present crotchets, present participle crotcheting, simple past and past participle crotcheted)

(obsolete) to play music in measured time

Archaic form of crochet (knit by looping)

Source: Wiktionary

Crotch"et (krch"t; 224), n. Etym: [F. crochet, prop., a little hook, a dim. from the same source as croc hook. See Crook, and cf. Crochet, Crocket, Crosier.]

1. A forked support; a crotch. The crotchets of their cot in columns rise. Dryden.

2. (Mus.)

Definition: A time note, with a stem, having one fourth the value of a semibreve, one half that of a minim, and twice that of a quaver; a quarter note.

3. (Fort.)

Definition: An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.

4. (Mil.)

Definition: The arrangement of a body of troops, either forward or rearward, so as to form a line nearly perpendicular to the general line of battle.

5. (Print.)

Definition: A bracket. See Bracket.

6. (Med.)

Definition: An instrument of a hooked form, used in certain cases in the extraction of a fetus. Dunglison.

7. A perverse fancy; a whim which takes possession of the mind; a conceit. He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man. De Quincey.

Crotch"et, v. i.

Definition: To play music in measured time. [Obs.] Donne.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition