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fork - 9 dictionary results
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fork

  [fawrk]
Use fork in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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.
2. something resembling or suggesting this in form.
3. tuning fork.
4. Machinery. yoke 1 (def. 9).
5. a division into branches.
6. 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.
7. either of the branches into which a thing divides.
8. Horology. (in a lever escapement) the forked end of the lever engaging with the ruby pin.
9. a principal tributary of a river.
10. the support of the front wheel axles of a bicycle or motorcycle, having the shape of a two-pronged fork.
11. the barbed head of an arrow.
–verb (used with object)
12. to pierce, raise, pitch, dig, etc., with a fork.
13. to make into the form of a fork.
14. Chess. to maneuver so as to place (two opponent's pieces) under simultaneous attack by the same piece.
–verb (used without object)
15. to divide into branches: Turn left where the road forks.
16. to turn as indicated at a fork in a road, path, etc.: Fork left and continue to the top of the hill.
—Verb phrase
17. fork over or out or up, Informal. to hand over; deliver; pay: Fork over the money you owe me!
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME forke, OE forca < L furca fork, gallows, yoke

Related forms:
forkless, adjective
forklike, adjective
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yoke

1  [yohk] noun, plural yokes for 1, 3–20, yoke for 2; verb, yoked, yok⋅ing.
–noun
1. a device for joining together a pair of draft animals, esp. oxen, usually consisting of a crosspiece with two bow-shaped pieces, each enclosing the head of an animal. Compare harness (def. 1).
2. a pair of draft animals fastened together by a yoke: five yoke of oxen.
3. something resembling a yoke or a bow of a yoke in form or use.
4. a frame fitting the neck and shoulders of a person, for carrying a pair of buckets or the like, one at each end.
5. an agency of oppression, subjection, servitude, etc.
6. an emblem or symbol of subjection, servitude, slavery, etc., as an archway under which prisoners of war were compelled to pass by the ancient Romans and others.
7. something that couples or binds together; a bond or tie.
8. Machinery. a viselike piece gripping two parts firmly together.
9. Also called fork. a forklike termination for a rod or shaft, inside which another part is secured.
10. a fitting for the neck of a draft animal for suspending the tongue of a cart, carriage, etc., from a harness.
11. a crosshead attached to the upper piston of an opposed-piston engine with rods to transmit power to the crankshaft.
12. (in an airplane) a double handle, somewhat like a steering wheel in form, by which the elevators are controlled.
13. Nautical. a crossbar on the head of the rudder of a small boat, having lines or chains attached to the ends so as to permit the steering of the boat from forward.
14. spreader beam.
15. a shaped piece in a garment, fitted about or below the neck and shoulders or about the hips, from which the rest of the garment hangs.
16. a horizontal piece forming the top of a window frame.
17. a Y-shaped piece connecting branch pipes with a main soil pipe.
18. Television. an electromagnetic assembly placed around the neck of a cathode-ray tube to produce and control the scanning motion of electron beams inside the tube.
19. British Dialect. (esp. in Kent)
a. the time during which a plowman and team work without stopping; a period of plowing.
b. a measure or area of land equal to over 50 but less than 60 acres.
20. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter Y.
–verb (used with object)
21. to put a yoke on; join or couple by means of a yoke.
22. to attach (a draft animal) to a plow or vehicle: to yoke oxen.
23. to harness a draft animal to (a plow or vehicle): to yoke a wagon.
24. to join, couple, link, or unite.
25. Obsolete. to bring into subjection or servitude.
–verb (used without object)
26. to be or become joined, linked, or united.
Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME yok(e), OE geoc; c. D juk, G Joch, ON ok, L jugum, Gk zygón, Hittite yugan, Skt yuga; (v.) ME yoken, OE geocian, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:
yokeless, adjective

Synonyms:
2. See pair.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fork
fork   (fôrk)   
n.  
  1. A utensil with two or more prongs, used for eating or serving food.
  2. An implement with two or more prongs used for raising, carrying, piercing, or digging.
    1. A bifurcation or separation into two or more branches or parts.
    2. The point at which such a bifurcation or separation occurs: a fork in a road.
    3. One of the branches of such a bifurcation or separation: the right fork. See Synonyms at branch.
  4. Games An attack by one chess piece on two pieces at the same time.
v.   forked, fork·ing, forks

v.   tr.
  1. To raise, carry, pitch, or pierce with a fork.
  2. To give the shape of a fork to (one's fingers, for example).
  3. Games To launch an attack on (two chess pieces).
  4. Informal To pay. Used with over, out, or up: forked over $80 for front-row seats; forked up the money owed.
v.   intr.
  1. To divide into two or more branches: The river forks here.
    1. To use a fork, as in working.
    2. To turn at or travel along a fork.

[Middle English forke, digging fork, from Old English forca and from Old North French forque, both from Latin furca.]
fork'er n., fork'ful' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fork

Fork\ (f[^o]rj), n. [AS. forc, fr. L. furca. Cf. Fourch['e], Furcate.]

1. An instrument consisting of a handle with a shank terminating in two or more prongs or tines, which are usually of metal, parallel and slightly curved; -- used from piercing, holding, taking up, or pitching anything.

2. Anything furcate or like a fork in shape, or furcate at the extremity; as, a tuning fork.

3. One of the parts into which anything is furcated or divided; a prong; a branch of a stream, a road, etc.; a barbed point, as of an arrow.

Let it fall . . . though the fork invade The region of my heart. --Shak.

A thunderbolt with three forks. --Addison.

4. The place where a division or a union occurs; the angle or opening between two branches or limbs; as, the fork of a river, a tree, or a road.

5. The gibbet. [Obs.] --Bp. Butler.

Fork beam (Shipbuilding), a half beam to support a deck, where hatchways occur.

Fork chuck (Wood Turning), a lathe center having two prongs for driving the work.

Fork head. (a) The barbed head of an arrow. (b) The forked end of a rod which forms part of a knuckle joint.

In fork. (Mining) A mine is said to be in fork, or an engine to "have the water in fork," when all the water is drawn out of the mine. --Ure.

The forks of a river or a road, the branches into which it divides, or which come together to form it; the place where separation or union takes place.

Fork

Fork\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Forked; p. pr. & vb. n. Forking.]

1. To shoot into blades, as corn.

The corn beginneth to fork. --Mortimer.

2. To divide into two or more branches; as, a road, a tree, or a stream forks.

Fork

Fork\, v. t. To raise, or pitch with a fork, as hay; to dig or turn over with a fork, as the soil.

Forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart. --Prof. Wilson.

To fork over or out, to hand or pay over, as money. [Slang] --G. Eliot.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : fork
Spanish: tenedor,
German: die Gabel,
Japanese: フォーク
More Translations »

fork 
O.E. forca "forked instrument used by torturers," from L. furca "pitchfork," of uncertain origin. Table forks were not generally used in England until 15c. The word is first attested in this sense in Eng. in a will of 1463, probably from O.N.Fr. forque, from the L. word. The verb "to divide in branches" is from the noun. Fork-lift (truck) first attested 1946. The slang verb phrase fork up (or out) "give over" is from 1831.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: fork
Pronunciation: 'fo(&)rk
Function: noun
1 : a forked part, tool, or piece of equipment —see TUNING FORK
2 : the lower part of the human body where the legs diverge from the trunk usually includingthe legs
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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fork operating system
A Unix system call used by a process (the "parent") to make a copy (the "child") of itself. The child process is identical to the parent except it has a different process identifier and a zero return value from the fork call. It is assumed to have used no resources.
A fork followed by an exec can be used to start a different process but this can be inefficient and some later Unix variants provide vfork as an alternative mechanism for this.
See also fork bomb.
(1996-12-08)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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