fork
Americannoun
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an instrument having two or more prongs or tines, for holding, lifting, etc., such as a utensil for handling food or any of various agricultural tools.
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something resembling or suggesting this in form.
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a division into branches or the point where this division occurs.
Bear left at the fork in the road.
There’s a fork in the decision-making process for these two types of problem.
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either of the branches into which a thing divides.
The right fork will also get you to our farm, but by a longer route.
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a principal tributary of a river.
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Machinery. yoke.
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Horology. (in a lever escapement) the divided end of the lever engaging with the ruby pin.
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the support of the front wheel axles of a bicycle or motorcycle, having two parallel prongs.
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the barbed head of an arrow.
verb (used with object)
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to pierce, raise, pitch, dig, etc., with a fork.
I forked 50 bales into the hay wagon today.
If you fork your lawn, the soil will absorb water more readily.
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to make into the form of a fork.
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Chess. to maneuver so as to place (two opponent's pieces) under simultaneous attack by the same piece.
She managed to fork my rook and queen, and I lost the rook.
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Computers. to copy the source code from (a piece of software) and develop a new version independently, resulting in two unique pieces of software.
They forked the app and added another module.
verb (used without object)
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to divide into branches.
Turn left where the road forks.
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to turn as indicated at a fork in a road, path, etc..
Fork left and continue to the top of the hill.
verb phrase
noun
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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
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an agricultural tool consisting of a handle and three or four metal prongs, used for lifting, digging, etc
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a pronged part of any machine, device, etc
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a division into two or more branches
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the point where the division begins
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such a branch
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the main tributary of a river
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chess a position in which two pieces are forked
verb
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(tr) to pick up, dig, etc, with a fork
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(tr) chess to place (two enemy pieces) under attack with one of one's own pieces, esp a knight
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(tr) to make into the shape of a fork
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(intr) to be divided into two or more branches
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to take one or other branch at a fork in a road, river, etc
Other Word Forms
- forkful noun
- forkless adjective
- forklike adjective
- unfork verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of fork
First recorded before 1000; Middle English forke, Old English forca, from Latin furca fork, gallows, yoke
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In Tayari Jones’s novel, two childhood friends in 1950s Louisiana take “different tines at the fork in the road.”
Vernice eventually realizes that she and her friend have taken “different tines at the fork in the road.”
In the dining room, ten or more courses were served by footmen: a different plate, fork, and glass for each course.
From Literature
That’s when Papa made a crutch for her out of a red oak limb with a fork on one end.
From Literature
“But there’s another village about five miles yonder that has a fair amount of merchants and peddlers. When you come to a fork in the road, take the left.”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
