fork

[fawrk]

noun

an instrument having two or more prongs or tines, for holding, lifting, etc., as an implement for handling food or any of various agricultural tools.

something resembling or suggesting this in form.

tuning fork.

Machinery. yoke¹(def 9).

a division into branches.

the point or part at which a thing, as a river or a road, divides into branches: Bear left at the fork in the road.

either of the branches into which a thing divides.

Horology. (in a lever escapement) the forked end of the lever engaging with the ruby pin.

a principal tributary of a river.

the support of the front wheel axles of a bicycle or motorcycle, having the shape of a two-pronged fork.

the barbed head of an arrow.

verb (used with object)

to pierce, raise, pitch, dig, etc., with a fork.

to make into the form of a fork.

Chess. to maneuver so as to place (two opponent's pieces) under simultaneous attack by the same piece.

Digital Technology to copy (the source code) from a piece of software and develop a new version independently, with the result of producing two unique pieces of software.

verb (used without object)

to divide into branches: Turn left where the road forks.

to turn as indicated at a fork in a road, path, etc.: Fork left and continue to the top of the hill.

Verb Phrases

fork over/out/up, Informal. to hand over; deliver; pay: Fork over the money you owe me!

Origin of fork

before 1000; Middle English forke, Old English forca < Latin furca fork, gallows, yoke

Related formsfork·less, adjectivefork·like, adjectiveun·fork, verb (used with object)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for forks

bifurcate, angle, divide, diverge, part, split, divaricate

Examples from the Web for forks

Contemporary Examples of forks

There was a blond girl he liked in Three Forks, where his uncle lived.
The Ballad of Johnny France
Richard Ben Cramer
January 12, 2014
You will instead: Begin gathering nearby plates, dishes, forks and leftovers.
Crushing Christmas: How to Win Every Argument
Kelly Williams Brown
December 24, 2013
This was a throwback, for by then forks were nearly universal.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’
Bee Wilson
October 13, 2012
Spoons are sometimes used with firm puddings,” noted a cookbook of 1887, “but forks are the better style.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’
Bee Wilson
October 13, 2012
Because we use knives and forks every day, we do not notice how they hamper us.
The Strange Way We Eat: Bee Wilson’s ‘Consider the Fork’
Bee Wilson
October 13, 2012

Historical Examples of forks

It was strange to have forks in so many cases where I've always used spoons.
The Bacillus of Beauty
Harriet Stark
They were seated at a low table where no forks or knives or even plates were laid.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson
One of them had a shotgun and others were armed with forks and rakes.
Louisiana Lou
William West Winter
His first acquaintance in Forks stood his friend to the last.
The Night Riders
Ridgwell Cullum
Then it was that his thoughts reverted to the scene in the saloon at Forks.
The Night Riders
Ridgwell Cullum

British Dictionary definitions for forks

fork

noun

a small usually metal implement consisting of two, three, or four long thin prongs on the end of a handle, used for lifting food to the mouth or turning it in cooking, etc

an agricultural tool consisting of a handle and three or four metal prongs, used for lifting, digging, etc

a pronged part of any machine, device, etc

(of a road, river, etc)

a division into two or more branches
the point where the division begins
such a branch

mainly US the main tributary of a river

chess a position in which two pieces are forked

verb

(tr) to pick up, dig, etc, with a fork

(tr) chess to place (two enemy pieces) under attack with one of one's own pieces, esp a knight

(tr) to make into the shape of a fork

(intr) to be divided into two or more branches

to take one or other branch at a fork in a road, river, etc

Derived Formsforkful, noun

Word Origin for fork

Old English forca, from Latin furca

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for forks

fork

Old English forca "forked instrument used by torturers," a Germanic borrowing (cf. Old Norse forkr) from Latin furca "pitchfork; fork used in cooking," of uncertain origin.

Table forks were not generally used in England until 15c. The word is first attested in this sense in English in a will of 1463, probably from Old North French forque (Old French furche, Modern French fourche), from the Latin word. Of rivers, from 1753; of roads, from 1839.

fork

"to divide in branches, go separate ways" (early 14c.), from fork (n.). Related: Forked; forking. The slang verb phrase fork up (or out) "give over" is from 1831.