Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fork \Fork\ (f[^o]rj), n. [AS. forc, fr. L. furca. Cf.
   {Fourch['e]}, {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
      from 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. [Obs.] --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 river} or {a road}, the branches into which
      it divides, or which come together to form it; the place
      where separation or union takes place.