E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Croquet.
A game played with a sort of bandy stick. The crook was superseded by a kind of mallet. Du Cange gives “Croque, croquebois, croquet, bâton armé d’un croc, ou qui est recourbé” (vol. vii. p. 115). The art of the game is to strike your balls through very small hoops arranged in a given order.
