Cross-tining noun (Agriculture) A mode of harrowing crosswise, or transversely to the ridges. Crabb.

Cross-vaulting noun (Architecture) Vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults.

Cross-week noun Rogation week, when the cross was borne in processions.

Crosstrees noun plural (Nautical) Pieces of timber at a masthead, to which are attached the upper shrouds. At the head of lower masts in large vessels, they support a semicircular platform called the "top."

Crossway noun See Crossroad .

Crosswise adverb In the form of a cross; across; transversely. Longfellow.

Crosswort noun (Botany) A name given to several inconspicuous plants having leaves in whorls of four, as species of Crucianella , Valantia , etc.

Crotalaria noun [ New Latin See Crotalum .] (Botany) A genus of leguminous plants; rattlebox.

» Crotalaria juncea furnishes the fiber called sunn or Bombay hemp .

Crotaline adjective [ See Crotalus .] (Zoology) Resembling, or pertaining to, the Crotalidae , or Rattlesnake family.

Crotalo noun A Turkish musical instrument.

Crotalum noun [ Latin , from Greek ............ rattle.] (Mus.) A kind of castanet used by the Corybantes.

Crotalus noun [ New Latin , from Greek ............ rattle.] (Zoology) A genus of poisonous serpents, including the rattlesnakes.

Crotaphite noun [ Greek ............ the side of the forehead.] (Anat.) The temple or temporal fossa. Also used adjectively.

Crotaphitic noun (Anat.) Pertaining to the temple; temporal.

Crotch noun ; plural Crotches (-...z). [ Confer Crotchet , Crutch .]
1. The angle formed by the parting of two legs or branches; a fork; the point where a trunk divides; as, the crotch of a tree.

2. (Nautical) A stanchion or post of wood or iron, with two arms for supporting a boom, spare yards, etc.; -- called also crane and crutch . Totten.

Crotch noun (Billiards) In the three-ball carom game, a small space at each corner of the table. See Crotched , below.

Crotch transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Crotched ; present participle & verbal noun Crotch"ing .]
1. To provide with a crotch; to give the form of a crotch to; as, to crotch the ends of ropes in splicing or tying knots.

2. (Logging) To notch (a log) on opposite sides to provide a grip for the dogs in hauling. [ Western, U. S.]

Crotch chain (Logging) A form of tackle for loading a log sideways on a sled, skidway, etc.

Crotched adjective
1. Having a crotch; forked.

2. Cross; peevish. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Crotched adjective (Billiards) Lying within a crotch; -- said of the object balls in the three- ball carom game whenever the centers of both lie within a 4½- inch square at a corner of the table, in which case but three counts are allowed unless one or both balls be forced out of the crotch.

Crotchet noun [ French crochet , prop., a little hook, a dim. from the same source as croc hook. See Crook , and confer 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. (Medicine) 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.

Crotchet intransitive verb To play music in measured time. [ Obsolete] Donne.

Crotcheted adjective Marked or measured by crotchets; having musical notation. Harmar (1587).

Crotchetiness noun The state or character of being crotchety, or whimsical.

This belief in rightness is a kind of conscientiousness, and when it degenerates it becomes crotchetiness .
J. Grote.

Crotchety adjective Given to crotchets; subject to whims; as, a crotchety man.

Croton noun [ Greek ............, prop., a tick, which the seed of the croton resembles.] (Botany) A genus of euphorbiaceous plants belonging to tropical countries.

Croton oil (Medicine) , a viscid, acrid, brownish yellow oil obtained from the seeds of Croton Tiglium , a small tree of the East Indies. It is a most powerful drastic cathartic, and is used externally as a pustulant.

Croton bug (b?g`). [ From the Croton water of New York.] (Zoology) A small, active, winged species of cockroach ( Ectobia Germanica ), the water bug. It is common aboard ships, and in houses in cities, esp. in those with hot-water pipes.

Crotonic adjective Of or pertaining to, or derived from, a plant of the genus Croton , or from croton oil.

Crotonic acid (Chemistry) , a white crystalline organic acid, C ₃ H ₅ .CO ₂ H, of the ethylene, or acrylic acid series. It was so named because formerly supposed to exist in croton oil. Also, any acid metameric with crotonic acid proper.

» The acid characteristic of croton oil is tiglic or tiglinic acid , a derivative of crotonic acid .

Crotonine noun (Chemistry) A supposed alkaloid obtained from croton oil by boiling it with water and magnesia, since found to be merely a magnesia soap of the oil. Watts.

Crotonylene noun [ Crotonic + acet- ylene .] (Chemistry) A colorless, volatile, pungent liquid, C ₄ H ₆ , produced artificially, and regarded as an unsaturated hydrocarbon of the acetylene series, and analogous to crotonic acid.

Crottles noun plural [ Gael. crotal .] A name given to various lichens gathered for dyeing. [ Scot.]

Crouch (krouch; 129) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Crouched (kroucht); present participle & verbal noun Crouching .] [ Middle English cruchen , crouchen , crouken ; confer English creep , G. krauchen , kriechen , or English crook to bend, also crouch to cross.]
1. To bend down; to stoop low; to lie close to the ground with the logs bent, as an animal when waiting for prey, or in fear.

Now crouch like a cur.
Beau. & Fl.

2. To bend servilely; to stoop meanly; to fawn; to cringe. "A crouching purpose." Wordsworth.

Must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humor?
Shak.

Crouch transitive verb [ Middle English cruchen , crouchen , from cruche , crouche , cross. Confer Crosier , Crook .]
1. To sign with the cross; to bless. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

2. To bend, or cause to bend, as in humility or fear.

She folded her arms across her chest,
And crouched her head upon her breast.
Colerige.

Crouched (kroucht) adjective Marked with the sign of the cross. [ Obsolete]

Crouched friar . See Crutched friar , under Crutched .

Croud (kroud) noun (Mus.) See Crowd , a violin.

Crouke (krouk) noun A crock; a jar. [ Obsolete] Chauser.

Croup noun [ French croupe hind quarters, croup, rump, of German or Icelandic origin; confer Icelandic kryppa hump; akin to Icelandic kroppr . Confer Crop .] The hinder part or buttocks of certain quadrupeds, especially of a horse; hence, the place behind the saddle.

So light to the croup the fair lady he swung,
So light to the saddle before her he sprung.
Sir W. Scott.

Croup noun [ Scot. croup , confer croup , crowp , to croak, to cry or speak with a hoarse voice; confer also LG. kropp , German kropf , the crop or craw of a bird, and tumor on the anterior part of the neck, a wen, etc. Confer Crop .] (Medicine) An inflammatory affection of the larynx or trachea, accompanied by a hoarse, ringing cough and stridulous, difficult breathing; esp., such an affection when associated with the development of a false membrane in the air passages (also called membranous croup ). See False croup , under False , and Diphtheria .

Croupade noun [ French, from croupe hind quarters.] (Man.) A leap in which the horse pulls up his hind legs toward his belly.

Croupal adjective Croupy.

Crouper noun See Crupper .

Croupier (kr......"p...-...r) noun [ F.; prop., one who sits on the croup, and hence, in the second place; an assistant. See 1st Croup .]
1. One who presides at a gaming table and collects the stakes.

2. One who, at a public dinner party, sits at the lower end of the table as assistant chairman.

Croupous adjective (Medicine) Relating to or resembling croup; especially, attended with the formation of a deposit or membrane like that found in membranous croup; as, croupous laryngitis.

Croupous pneumonia , pneumonia attended with deposition of fibrinous matter in the air vesicles of the lungs; ordinary acute pneumonia.

Croupy adjective Of or pertaining to croup; resembling or indicating croup; as, a croupy cough.

Crouse adjective [ Etymol. uncertain.] Brisk; lively; bold; self-complacent. [ Scot.] Burns.

Croustade noun [ French, from cro...te a crust, Old French crouste .] (Cookery) Bread baked in a mold, and scooped out, to serve minces upon. Bishop.

Crout (krout) noun [ German kraut .] See Sourkrout .

Crouton noun [ French cro...ton , from cro...te a crust.] (Cookery) Bread cut in various forms, and fried lightly in butter or oil, to garnish hashes, etc.

Crow (krō) intransitive verb [ imperfect Crew (kru) or Crowed (krōd); past participle Crowed ( Crown (krōn), Obsolete); present participle & verbal noun Crowing .] [ Anglo-Saxon crāwan ; akin to Dutch kraijen , G. krähen , confer Lithuanian groti to croak. √24. Confer Crake .]
1. To make the shrill sound characteristic of a cock, either in joy, gayety, or defiance. "The cock had crown ." Bayron.

The morning cock crew loud.
Shak.

2. To shout in exultation or defiance; to brag.

3. To utter a sound expressive of joy or pleasure.

The sweetest little maid,
That ever crowed for kisses.
Tennyson.

To crow over , to exult over a vanquished antagonist.

Sennacherib crowing over poor Jerusalem.
Bp. Hall.

Crow noun [ Anglo-Saxon crāwe a crow (in sense 1); akin to D. kraai , German krähe ; confer Icelandic krāka crow. So named from its cry, from Anglo-Saxon crāwan to crow. See Crow , intransitive verb ]

1. (Zoology) A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus , having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles. It has a harsh, croaking note. See Caw .

» The common crow of Europe, or carrion crow, is C. corone . The common American crow is C. Americanus . See Carrion crow , and Illustr. , under Carrion .

2. A bar of iron with a beak, crook, or claw; a bar of iron used as a lever; a crowbar.

Get me an iron crow , and bring it straight
Unto my cell.
Shak.

3. The cry of the cock. See Crow , intransitive verb , 1.

4. The mesentery of a beast; -- so called by butchers.

Carrion crow . See under Carrion . -- Crow blackbird (Zoology) , an American bird ( Quiscalus quiscula ); -- called also purple grackle . -- Crow pheasant (Zoology) , an Indian cuckoo; the common coucal. It is believed by the natives to give omens. See Coucal . -- Crow shrike (Zoology) , any bird of the genera Gymnorhina , Craticus , or Strepera , mostly from Australia. -- Red-legged crow . See Crough . -- As the crow flies , in a direct line. -- To pick a crow , To pluck a crow , to state and adjust a difference or grievance (with any one).