Word: fork Part of Speech: noun 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. Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows: 2. Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows: 3. Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows: 4. Any of several types of pronged (tined) tools (physical tools), as follows: 5. A fork in the road, as follows: Labels: physical 6. A fork in the road, as follows: Labels: figuratively 7. A point where a waterway, such as a river or other stream, splits and flows into two (or more) different directions. 8. 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. Labels: metonymically Example: a thunderbolt with three forks Example: this fork of the river dries up during droughts 9. A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths. Labels: figuratively 10. A point in time where one has to make a decision between two life paths. Labels: figuratively, metonymically 11. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively, metonymically 12. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively 13. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively Example: LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. 14. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively Example: A content fork may be intentional (as from a schism about goals) or unintentional (merely from a lack of reorganizing, so far). 15. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively 16. (software development, content management, data management) A departure from having a single source of truth (SSOT), sometimes intentionally but usually unintentionally. Labels: figuratively Example: Known as a “fork”, the new version of bitcoin (dubbed Bitcoin XT) would support more transactions per hour, at the cost of increasing the amount of memory required to hold a full database of all the bitcoin transactions throughout history, known as the blockchain. 17. The simultaneous attack of two adversary pieces with one single attacking piece (especially a knight). 18. The crotch. Labels: UK, vulgar 19. A forklift. Labels: colloquial Example: Are you qualified to drive a fork? 20. Either of the blades of a forklift (or, in plural, the set of blades), on which the goods to be raised are loaded. Example: Get those forks tilted back more or you're gonna lose that pallet! 21. In a bicycle or motorcycle, the portion of the frameset holding the front wheel, allowing the rider to steer and balance, also called front fork. Example: The fork can be equipped with a suspension on mountain bikes. 22. The upper front brow of a saddle bow, connected in the tree by the two saddle bars to the cantle on the other end. 23. A set of data associated with an individual file in some file systems. Example: resource fork Example: HFS+ uses forks to store file data. Generally there are two types of forks available in HFS+, the data fork and the resource fork. 24. A gallows. Labels: obsolete Example: They had run through all punishments, and just 'scaped the fork