crocket means any of a series of hook-shaped decorative floral elements used in Gothic architecture. It carries an Arena rating of 1501, earned across 58 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, crocket ranks #213 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #921 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,146 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,308 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “crocket” is a great word
CROCKET — [Noun] A hook-shaped decorative element, often stylized as foliage, projecting from the sloping sides of spires, pinnacles, or gables in Gothic architecture. From Middle English *croket*, from Anglo-Norman *croquet* ("curl of hair"), a diminutive of Old Northern French/Old French *croc* ("hook"). Unlike a finial, which crowns an apex as a singular climax, or a gargoyle, which serves as a functional, grotesque waterspout, a crocket is a purely decorative flourish, one of a rhythmic series ascending an edge. It is the stone ivy frozen in its climb up a spire’s arris, the curled fern catching the long light, the repeated hook by which the eye is drawn upward—a minor, multiplied act of faith in ornament for its own soaring sake.
Etymology
From Middle English croket, from Anglo-Norman croquet (“curl of hair”), from Old Northern French, variant of Old French crochet, diminutive of croc (“hook”), which is also present in English archaically in the architectural sense as crochet, crotchet. Doublet of crochet, croquet, and crotchet.
noun
- Any of a series of hook-shaped decorative floral elements used in Gothic architecture.
- The tips of the antlers of an adult stag.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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