Library / English Dictionary

FORK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of branching out or dividing into branches

Synonyms:

branching; fork; forking; ramification

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("fork" is a kind of...):

division (the act or process of dividing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fork"):

bifurcation (the act of splitting into two branches)

trifurcation (the act of splitting into three branches)

divarication (branching at a wide angle)

fibrillation (act or process of forming fibrils)

Derivation:

bifurcate (divide into two branches)

bifurcate (split or divide into two)

fork (divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cutlery used for serving and eating food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fork" is a kind of...):

cutlery; eating utensil (tableware implements for cutting and eating food)

Meronyms (parts of "fork"):

prong (a pointed projection)

tine (prong on a fork or pitchfork or antler)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fork"):

carving fork (a large fork used in carving cooked meat)

salad fork (a fork intended for eating salads)

tablefork (a fork for eating at a dining table)

toasting fork (long-handled fork for cooking or toasting frankfurters or bread etc. (especially over an open fire))

Derivation:

fork (shape like a fork)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fork" is a kind of...):

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Meronyms (parts of "fork"):

prong (a pointed projection)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fork"):

hayfork (a long-handled fork for turning or lifting hay)

Derivation:

fork (lift with a pitchfork)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The angle formed by the inner sides of the legs where they join the human trunk

Synonyms:

crotch; fork

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("fork" is a kind of...):

angle (the space between two lines or planes that intersect; the inclination of one line to another; measured in degrees or radians)

Holonyms ("fork" is a part of...):

body; organic structure (the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being))

Sense 5

Meaning:

The region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches

Example:

he climbed into the crotch of a tree

Synonyms:

crotch; fork

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("fork" is a kind of...):

branch; leg; ramification (a part of a forked or branching shape)

Derivation:

fork (shape like a fork)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shape like a fork

Example:

She forked her fingers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fork" is one way to...):

form; shape (give shape or form to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fork (cutlery used for serving and eating food)

fork (the region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork

Example:

The road forks

Synonyms:

branch; fork; furcate; ramify; separate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fork" is one way to...):

diverge (move or draw apart)

Verb group:

branch; ramify (grow and send out branches or branch-like structures)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fork"):

arborise; arborize (branch out like trees)

twig (branch out in a twiglike manner)

bifurcate (divide into two branches)

trifurcate (divide into three)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

fork; forking (the act of branching out or dividing into branches)

forking (the place where something divides into branches)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Place under attack with one's own pieces, of two enemy pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "fork" is one way to...):

aggress; attack (take the initiative and go on the offensive)

Domain category:

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Lift with a pitchfork

Example:

pitchfork hay

Synonyms:

fork; pitchfork

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fork" is one way to...):

lift (take hold of something and move it to a different location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fork (an agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Visions of good and ill breeding, of old vulgarisms and new gentilities, were before her; and she was meditating much upon silver forks, napkins, and finger-glasses.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Through the bushes to that forked ash.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They could not feel vibrations from a buzzing tuning fork as well as the control subjects could.

(“Sixth sense” may be more than just a feeling, NIH)

The fifth, “Who has been handling my fork?”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

At the DNA replication fork, a DNA helicase (DnaB or MCM complex) precedes the DNA synthetic machinery and unwinds the duplex parental DNA in cooperation with the SSB or RPA.

(DNA Replication Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and licked it with their forked and destroying tongues.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There I settled into a convenient fork, and, balancing myself securely, I found myself looking down at a most wonderful panorama of this strange country in which we found ourselves.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The genelmanly man that eats with a fork, ’im what looks like a Corinthian, only that the bridge of ’is nose ain’t quite as it ought to be, that’s Dick ’Umphries, the same that was cock of the middle-weights until Mendoza cut his comb for ’im.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As a consequence of the formation of this complex, both the initial cleavage reaction and religation steps are inhibited and subsequent collision of the replication fork with the cleaved strand of DNA results in inhibition of DNA replication, double strand DNA breakage and triggering of apoptosis.

(BAY 56-3722, NCI Thesaurus)

There was a very general ignorance of all naval matters throughout the party; and he was very much questioned, and especially by the two Miss Musgroves, who seemed hardly to have any eyes but for him, as to the manner of living on board, daily regulations, food, hours, &c., and their surprise at his accounts, at learning the degree of accommodation and arrangement which was practicable, drew from him some pleasant ridicule, which reminded Anne of the early days when she too had been ignorant, and she too had been accused of supposing sailors to be living on board without anything to eat, or any cook to dress it if there were, or any servant to wait, or any knife and fork to use.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)