Crotchet. In fortification, an indentation in the glacis of the covered way at a point where a traverse is placed.
Crotchet. 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.
Croton, or Crotona. One of the most celebrated of the Greek colonies in Southern Italy, founded about 710 B.C. About 510 a Crotoniat army of 100,000 men, under Milo, defeated a greatly superior force of Sybarites on the banks of the Tracis, took the city of Sybaris, and utterly destroyed it. (See [Sybaris].) In the second Punic war the Bruttians, with the assistance of the Carthaginian general Hanno, succeeded in making themselves masters of the city of Crotona, with the exception of the citadel, which held out until induced to surrender on terms. The ravages of this war completed the decay of the city, and it sunk into the condition of an obscure provincial town.
Crown. The emblem of sovereignty in modern Europe. It was originally an Oriental decoration, and was adopted by Alexander the Great from the kings of Persia. In modern states crowns were of various forms, till heralds devised a regular series of them to mark the various gradations of sovereignty, from that of the emperor down to what are called the coronets of counts and barons. In England, so entirely has the crown been regarded as the symbol of sovereignty, that the word is frequently used as synonymous with the monarchy.
Crown, Civic. See [Civic Crown].
Crown, Mural. See [Mural Crown].
Crown, Obsidional. See [Obsidional Crown].
Crown, Triumphal. See Triumphal Crown.
Crown, Vallary. See [Vallary Crown].
Crowning. A term in fortifications generally applied to the operation, by the besieged, of establishing works on the crest of the glacis or summit of the breach. It is sometimes used when describing the movements of troops, to signify that they have reached the top of a hill or parapet, which they are said to have crowned.