Word: fork Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English forke (“digging fork”), from Old English force, forca (“forked instrument used to torture”), from Proto-West Germanic *furkō (“fork”), from Latin furca (“pitchfork, forked stake; gallows, beam, stake, support post, yoke”), of uncertain origin. The Middle English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French forque (= Old French forche whence French fourche), also from the Latin. Doublet of fourche and furcate. Cognate also with North Frisian forck (“fork”), Dutch vork (“fork”), Danish fork (“fork”), German Forke (“pitchfork”). Displaced native gafol, ġeafel, ġeafle (“fork”), from Old English. In its primary sense of “fork”, Latin furca appears to be derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰerk(ʷ)-, *ǵʰerg(ʷ)- (“fork”), although the development of the -c- is difficult to explain. In other senses this derivation is unlikely. For these, perhaps it is connected to Proto-Germanic *furkaz, *firkalaz (“stake, stick, pole, post”), from Proto-Indo-European *perg- (“pole, post”). If so, this would relate the word to Old English forclas pl (“bolt”), Old Saxon ferkal (“lock, bolt, bar”), Old Norse forkr (“pole, staff, stick”), Norwegian fork (“stick, bat”), Swedish fork (“pole”). Pronunciation: /fɔːk/, /fɔɹk/, [fo̞ɹk], /fo(ː)ɹk/ 1. To divide into two or more branches or copies. Labels: ambitransitive Example: A road, a tree, or a stream forks. 2. To divide into two or more branches or copies. Labels: ambitransitive Example: A parent process forks a child process, which in turn can fork other processes. Example: It appears that the shell forks a copy of itself and that this copy then forks to make each of the previous processes in the pipeline. 3. To divide into two or more branches or copies. Labels: ambitransitive Example: For various reasons, McCool's server project subsequently forked, leading to the development of the Apache Web Server. Example: Google forked WebKit to create the Blink project in April 2013 because they wanted to make larger-scale changes to WebKit to fit their own needs that did not align well with the WebKit project itself. 4. To divide into two or more branches or copies. Labels: ambitransitive, transitive Example: In this model, anyone can fork an existing repository and push changes to their personal fork. 5. To move with a fork (as hay or food). Labels: transitive Example: forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart Example: Brianna curbed her pang of envy as she forked her plain, low-fat, crouton-free salad niçoise into her mouth and shook her head. 6. To apply a fork to. Labels: transitive Example: forking the soil Example: They delight in combing, or rather forking it, using for that purpose a large wooden fork with four diverging prongs, which answers the purpose of separating and arranging the long tangled, frizzly mass of cranial vegetation much better than any comb could do. 7. To kick someone in the crotch. Labels: UK, transitive 8. To shoot into blades, as corn does. Labels: intransitive Example: I have known them couched up a Yard thick cover’d with an Hair-cloth and ſtirred only once a day, the Maltſer being always careful to throw the frozen outſides into the middle till the Corn begin to fork and warm in the Couch; after which time if it be not laid too thin, it will not eaſily freeze. 9. To simultaneously attack two opposing pieces with a single attacking piece. 10. Euphemistic form of fuck. Labels: euphemistic, form-of, transitive Example: They were forking each other in the back room.