Part 678

Cross"-staff` (-st?f`), n. 1. An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of celestial bodies.

2. A surveyor's instrument for measuring offsets.

Cross"-stitch` (-st?ch`; 224), n. A form of stitch, where the stitches are diagonal and in pairs, the thread of one stitch crossing that of the other. "Tent and cross-stitch." Sir W. Scott. -- Cross"-stitch`, v. t. & i.

Cross"-stone` (-st?n`), n. (Min.) See Harmotome, and Staurotide.

Cross"-tail` (-t?l`), n. (Steam Engine) A bar connecting the ends of the side rods or levers of a backaction or side-lever engine.

Cross"-tie` (-t?`), n. (Railroad) A sleeper supporting and connecting the rails, and holding them in place.

Cross"-tin`ing (kr?s"t?n`?ng), n. (Agric.) A mode of harrowing crosswise, or transversely to the ridges. Crabb.

Cross"trees` (-tr?z`), n. pl. (Naut.) 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."

Cross"-vault`ing (-v?lt`?ng), n. (Arch.) Vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults.

Cross"way` (-w?`), n. See Crossroad.

Cross"-week` (-w?k`), n. Rogation week, when the cross was borne in processions.

Cross"wise` (-w?z`), adv. In the form of a cross; across; transversely. Longfellow.

Cross"wort` (-w?rt`), n. (Bot.) A name given to several inconspicuous plants having leaves in whorls of four, as species of Crucianella, Valantia, etc.

||Crot`a*la"ri*a (kr?t`?-l?"r?-? or kr?`t?-l?"r?-A), n. [NL. See Crotalum.] (Bot.) A genus of leguminous plants; rattlebox.

&fist; Crotalaria juncea furnishes the fiber called sunn or Bombay hemp.

Crot"a*line (kr?t"?-l?n or kr?`t?-), a. [See Crotalus.] (Zo÷l.) Resembling, or pertaining to, the Crotalidae, or Rattlesnake family.

||Crot"a*lo (-l?), n. A Turkish musical instrument.

||Crot"a*lum (-l?m), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;&?;&?;&?; rattle.] (Mus.) A kind of castanet used by the Corybantes.

||Crot"a*lus (-l?s), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;&?;&?;&?; rattle.] (Zo÷l.) A genus of poisonous serpents, including the rattlesnakes.

Crot"a*phite (kr?t"?-f?t), n. [Gr. &?;&?;&?;&?; the side of the forehead.] (Anat.) The temple or temporal fossa. Also used adjectively.

Crot`a*phit"ic (kr?t`?-f?t"?k), n. (Anat.) Pertaining to the temple; temporal.

Crotch (kr?ch; 224), n.; pl. Crotches (-&?;z). [Cf. 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. (Naut.) A stanchion or post of wood or iron, with two arms for supporting a boom, spare yards, etc.; -- called also crane and crutch. Totten.

Crotched (kr?cht), a. 1. Having a crotch; forked.

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

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.