i Register
In some senses, crotchet is marked as obsolete, archaic, historical. Watch for register when choosing this word.
crotchet
/ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/
noun 5verb 2
Collocations
1ADJ.
horrid
Definitions
noun
1
A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence.
2
A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
3
A hook-shaped instrument, especially as used in obstetric surgery.
Either Doctor Denman or an old Woman would have waited—but since the horrid death-doing Crotchet has been found out, & its use permitted—Oh! many & many a Life has been flung away.
4
A whim or a fancy.
Thou who walkest in a vain shew, looking out with ornamental dilettante sniff and serene supremacy at all Life and all Death; and amblest jauntily; perking up thy poor talk into crotchets, thy poor conduct into fatuous somnambulisms; [...] dost thou call that "liberty!"
He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man.
5
A forked support; a crotch.
Their little Shed, ſcarce large enough for Two, / Seems, from the Ground increas'd, in Height and Bulk to grow. / A ſtately Temple ſhoots within the Skies, / The Crotchets of their Cot in Columns riſe: [...]
verb
1
to play music in measured time
The nimblest crotcheting musician
2
Archaic form of crochet (“knit by looping”).
Thesaurus
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
401
The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence.
Wiktionary02
Either Doctor Denman or an old Woman would have waited—but since the horrid death-doing Crotchet has been found out, & its use permitted—Oh! many & many a Life has been flung away.
Wiktionary03
Thou who walkest in a vain shew, looking out with ornamental dilettante sniff and serene supremacy at all Life and all Death; and amblest jauntily; perking up thy poor talk into crotchets, thy poor co
Wiktionary04
The nimblest crotcheting musician
WiktionaryUsage Notes
Your note
not saved0 chars