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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)