crotchet en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈkɹɒtʃ.ɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/ (General-American)
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.
Meanings
-
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.
1920 August 27, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Wind Blows”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 140–141:
- (obsolete) A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
-
(historical) 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.
1797 September 1, Hester Lynch Piozzi, Thraliana:
-
(archaic) A whim or a fancy.
He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man.
1847, Thomas De Quincey, “Secret Societies”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine: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!"
1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker), page 124:
-
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: [...]
1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 287:
- (historical) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.
- 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.
- A square bracket.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| crotchets | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
crotcheteer · crotchet rest · crotchety
Synonyms
Translations (34)
is fjórðapartsnóta (musical note) · cy crosiet (musical note) · ca negra (musical note) · es negra (musical note) · ms krocet (musical note) · pl ćwierćnuta (musical note) · ru четвертна́я но́та (musical note) · cmn 四分音符 (musical note) · ja 四分音符 (musical note) · it semiminima (musical note) · gd punc dubh (musical note) · sl četrtinka (musical note) · nl kwartnoot (musical note) · da fjerdedelsnode (musical note) · yue 四分音符 (musical note) · cy crosied (musical note) · bg четвъртина нота (musical note) · fi neljäsosanuotti (musical note) · ga croisín (musical note) · gl negra (musical note) · ga ceathrú nóta (musical note) · mi orotahi (musical note) · ko 사분음표 (musical note) · sv fjärdedelsnot (musical note) · pt semínima (musical note) · de Viertelnote (musical note) · ru че́тверть (musical note) · vi nốt đen (musical note) · fr noire (musical note) · is fjórðipartur (musical note) · csb czwiercnóta (musical note) · enm crochet (musical note) · el τέταρτο (musical note) · hu negyed (musical note)