different between quirk vs crotchet

English

Etymology

First attested in the 1540s. Of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??k/
• Rhymes: -??(r)k

Noun

quirk (plural quirks)

1. an idiosyncrasy; a slight glitch, mannerism; something unusual about the manner or style of something or someone

   The car steers cleanly, but the gearshift has a few quirks.

2. (architecture) An acute angle dividing a molding; a groove that runs lengthwise between the upper part of a moulding and a soffit
3. (archaic) A quibble, evasion, or subterfuge.

   • Had you no quirk / To avoid gullage, sir, by such a creature?

Derived terms

• quirkish
• quirkless
• quirks mode
• quirky

Translations

Verb

quirk (third-person singular simple present quirks, present participle quirking, simple past and past participle quirked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To move with a wry jerk.

   He quirked an eyebrow.

   The corners of her mouth quirked.

2. (transitive, architecture) To furnish with a quirk or channel.
3. (intransitive, archaic) To use verbal tricks or quibbles
   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     I have stung her and wrung her,
     The venom is working;—
     And if you had hung her
     With canting and quirking,
     She could not be deader than she will be soon

English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??t?.?t/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??t?.?t/

Noun

crotchet (plural crotchets)

1. (music) A musical note one beat long in 4/4 time.
2. (obsolete) A sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
3. (archaic) A whim or a fancy.
   • 1847, Thomas De Quincey, Secret Societies (published in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine):

     He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man.

4. A forked support; a crotch.
5. (military, historical) An indentation in the glacis of the covered way, at a point where a traverse is placed.
6. (military) 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.
7. (printing) A square bracket.

Synonyms

• (musical note): quarter note (US)

Derived terms

• crotchety

Translations

Verb

crotchet (third-person singular simple present crotchets, present participle crotcheting, simple past and past participle crotcheted)

1. (obsolete) to play music in measured time

   • The nimblest crotcheting musician

2. Archaic form of crochet (knit by looping)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French crochet (“small hook”), from croc (with diminutive suffix -et), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”).

Noun

crotchet m (plural crotchets)

1. (Jersey, punctuation) bracket

Derived terms

• crotchet cârré (“square bracket”)