From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fork \Fork\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Forked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Forking}.]
1. To shoot into blades, as corn.
[1913 Webster]
The corn beginneth to fork. --Mortimer.
[1913 Webster]
2. To divide into two or more branches; as, a road, a tree,
or a stream forks.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forked \Forked\, a.
1. Formed into a forklike shape; having a fork; dividing into
two or more prongs or branches; furcated; bifurcated;
zigzag; as, the forked lighting.
[1913 Webster]
A serpent seen, with forked tongue. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Having a double meaning; ambiguous; equivocal.
[1913 Webster]
{Cross forked} (Her.), a cross, the ends of whose arms are
divided into two sharp points; -- called also {cross
double fitch['e]}. A {cross forked of three points} is a
cross, each of whose arms terminates in three sharp
points.
{Forked counsel}, advice pointing more than one way;
ambiguous advice. [Obs.] --B. Jonson. -- {Fork"ed*ly},
adv. -- {Fork"ed*ness}, n.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
forked
adj 1: resembling a fork; divided or separated into two
branches; "the biramous appendages of an arthropod";
"long branched hairs on its legson which pollen
collects"; "a forked river"; "a forked tail"; "forked
lightning"; "horseradish grown in poor soil may develop
prongy roots" [syn: {bifurcate}, {biramous}, {branched},
{forked}, {fork-like}, {forficate}, {pronged}, {prongy}]
2: having two meanings with intent to deceive; "a sly double
meaning"; "spoke with forked tongue" [syn: {double},
{forked}]
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
forked
adj.,vi.
1. [common after 1997, esp. in the Linux community] An open-source software
project is said to have forked or be forked when the project group fissions
into two or more parts pursuing separate lines of development (or, less
commonly, when a third party unconnected to the project group begins its
own line of development). Forking is considered a {Bad Thing} ? not merely
because it implies a lot of wasted effort in the future, but because forks
tend to be accompanied by a great deal of strife and acrimony between the
successor groups over issues of legitimacy, succession, and design
direction. There is serious social pressure against forking. As a result,
major forks (such as the Gnu-Emacs/XEmacs split, the fissionings of the
386BSD group into three daughter projects, and the short-lived GCC/EGCS
split) are rare enough that they are remembered individually in hacker
folklore.
2. [Unix; uncommon; prob.: influenced by a mainstream expletive] Terminally
slow, or dead. Originated when one system was slowed to a snail's pace by
an inadvertent {fork bomb}.
|
