D defs.my
Entry 8 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Crotchet

/(kr?ch"?t; 224)/ · Crotch·et · IPA /ˈkɹɑt͡ʃ.ɪt/
01 n. A forked support; a crotch.
  1. 1.
    A forked support; a crotch.
    “The crotchets of their cot in columns rise.” Dryden.
  2. 2.
    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.(Mus.)
  3. 3.
    An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.(Fort.)
  4. 4.
    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.(Mil.)
  5. 5.
    A bracket. See Bracket.(Print.) See: Bracket
  6. 6.
    An instrument of a hooked form, used in certain cases in the extraction of a fetus.(Med.)
  7. 7.
    A perverse fancy; a whim which takes possession of the mind; a conceit.
    “He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man.” De Quincey.
02 v. i. To play music in measured time.
  1. 1.
    To play music in measured time.[Obs.]