crotchet

Meanings

Noun

• A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
• A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
• A hook-shaped instrument, especially as used in obstetric surgery.
• A whim or a fancy.
• A forked support; a crotch.
• 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.

Verb

• to play music in measured time

Related

Similar words

• quarter note

Origin

• From Middle English crochet, from Old French crochet ("small hook"), from croc + -et, 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).