Crotchet

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Crotchet \Crotch"et\, v. i.
     To play music in measured time. [Obs.] --Donne.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Crotchet \Crotch"et\ (kr?ch"?t; 224), n. [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.
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              The crotchets of their cot in columns rise.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     2. (Mus.) 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.
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     3. (Fort.) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way,
        at a point where a traverse is placed.
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     4. (Mil.) 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.
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     5. (Print.) A bracket. See {Bracket}.
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     6. (Med.) An instrument of a hooked form, used in certain
        cases in the extraction of a fetus. --Dunglison.
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     7. A perverse fancy; a whim which takes possession of the
        mind; a conceit.
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              He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by
              crotchets that he could never explain to any
              rational man.                         --De Quincey.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Bracket \Brack"et\, n. [Cf. OF. braguette codpiece, F. brayette,
     Sp. bragueta, also a projecting mold in architecture; dim.
     fr. L. bracae breeches; cf. also, OF. bracon beam, prop,
     support; of unknown origin. Cf. {Breeches}.]
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     1. (Arch.) An architectural member, plain or ornamental,
        projecting from a wall or pier, to support weight falling
        outside of the same; also, a decorative feature seeming to
        discharge such an office.
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     Note: This is the more general word. See {Brace},
           {Cantalever}, {Console}, {Corbel}, {Strut}.
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     2. (Engin. & Mech.) A piece or combination of pieces, usually
        triangular in general shape, projecting from, or fastened
        to, a wall, or other surface, to support heavy bodies or
        to strengthen angles.
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     3. (Naut.) A shot, crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as
        a support.
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     4. (Mil.) The cheek or side of an ordnance carriage.
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     5. (Print.) One of two characters [], used to inclose a
        reference, explanation, or note, or a part to be excluded
        from a sentence, to indicate an interpolation, to rectify
        a mistake, or to supply an omission, and for certain other
        purposes; -- called also {crotchet}.
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     6. A gas fixture or lamp holder projecting from the face of a
        wall, column, or the like.
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     7. (Gunnery) A figure determined by firing a projectile
        beyond a target and another short of it, as a basis for
        ascertaining the proper elevation of the piece; -- only
        used in the phrase, to establish a bracket. After the
        bracket is established shots are fired with intermediate
        elevations until the exact range is obtained. In the
        United States navy it is called {fork}.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     {Bracket light}, a gas fixture or a lamp attached to a wall,
        column, etc.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  crotchet
       n 1: a sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook [syn: {hook}]
       2: a musical note having the time value of a quarter of a whole
          note [syn: {quarter note}]
       3: a strange attitude or habit [syn: {oddity}, {queerness}, {quirk},
           {quirkiness}]
       4: a small tool or hook-like implement

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  96 Moby Thesaurus words for "crotchet":
     L, accidental, angle, apex, bee, bend, bifurcation, bight, boutade,
     brainstorm, breve, cant, capriccio, caprice, chevron, coin,
     conceit, corner, crank, craze, crazy idea, crook, deflection,
     demisemiquaver, dogleg, dominant, dominant note, double whole note,
     eccentricity, eighth note, elbow, ell, enharmonic, enharmonic note,
     fad, fancy, fantastic notion, fantasy, flat, flimflam, fool notion,
     fork, freak, freakish inspiration, furcation, half note,
     harebrained idea, hemidemisemiquaver, hook, humor, inflection,
     kink, knee, maggot, megrim, minim, musical note, natural, nook,
     note, notion, passing fancy, patent note, point, quarter note,
     quaver, quirk, quoin, report, responding note, semibreve,
     semiquaver, shaped note, sharp, sixteenth note, sixty-fourth note,
     spiccato, staccato, sustained note, swerve, tercet,
     thirty-second note, tone, toy, triplet, twist, vagary, veer,
     vertex, whim, whim-wham, whimsy, whole note, zag, zig, zigzag