Fork (fôrk), n. [AS. forc, fr. L. furca. Cf. Fourché, 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 for 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. 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 riverora road, the branches into which it divides, or which come together to form it; the place where separation or union takes place.