crotchet
/ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.66 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
noun
A hook-shaped instrument, especially as used in obstetric surgery.
noun
An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.
noun
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.
noun
Example Sentences
- "The crotchets and quavers are dancing up and down the stave like little black boys on a fence."
- "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."
- "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."
- "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: [...]"
- "The nimblest crotcheting musician"
Etymology
From Middle English crochet, from Old French crochet (“small hook”), from croc + -et (diminutive suffix), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”). The musical note was named so because of a small hook on its stem in black notation (in modern notation this hook is on the quaver/eighth note). Doublet of crochet, crocket, and croquet.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/
- British English: /ˈkɹɒtʃ.ɪt/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Music.