\Crotch"et\ (kr?ch"?t; 224), n. [F. crochet, prop., a
little hook, a dim. from the same source as croc hook. See
{Crook}, and cf. {Crochet}, {Crocket}, {Crosier}.]
1. A forked support; a crotch.

         The crotchets of their cot in columns rise.
                                               --Dryden.

2. (Mus.) 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.

3. (Fort.) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way,
   at a point where a traverse is placed.

4. (Mil.) 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.

5. (Print.) A bracket. See {Bracket}.

6. (Med.) An instrument of a hooked form, used in certain
   cases in the extraction of a fetus. --Dunglison.

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.

\Crotch"et\, v. i.
To play music in measured time. [Obs.] --Donne.