forked, ppl. a.
(fɔːkt)
[f. fork n. + -ed2.]
1. Having a fork or fork-like end; shaped like a fork, bifurcate, branching.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18843 (Cott.) Forked fair þe chin he bare. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 270 A Marchant..with a forked berd. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xxii. 428 The swalowes..tayles ben forkyd as a payr of sherys. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 158 Þat oþere partie of þe veyne passiþ to þe arm hoolis & þere he is forkid. 1534 Fitzherb. Husb. §21 He hath a forked stycke a yarde longe. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 334 Hee was, for all the world, like a forked Radish, with a Head fantastically caru'd vpon it. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 518 Hiss for hiss returnd with forked tongue To forked tongue. 1692 Lond. Gaz. No. 2830/4 Stolen..2 silver Spoons, a Fork, 2 small Spoons forkt. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, etc. 40 Forked Light'nings fright the World below. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 53 On two forked sticks with cordage tied, Their pot o'er pilfer'd fuel boils away. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. I. 3 A stem is termed forked when it divides into two branches of equal, or nearly equal size. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 24 Arabis..with forked or stellate hairs. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 211 Forked tongues are flickering seen. |
| fig. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, xvii, Thus forked Novelty Spreads. |
b. Of a road: Making a fork; having two or more diverging branches.
| 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. ii. xci. [lxxxvii.] 271 When we had rydden a ii. leages, we came to a forked waye. 1600 Holland Livy xxxviii. xlv. (1609) 1011 At every forked high way leading on both hands. 1633 Gate of Tongues Unl. 114 A forked way or carfax is deceitfull. 1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge iii, They came to the forked road. |
c. Of a mountain: Divided at the summit, cleft.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 5 Sometime we see..A forked Mountaine, or blew Promontorie. a 1628 Sir J. Beaumont To Muses 2 in Bosworth F. (1629) 9 Sweet Sounds are raised upon the forked Hill Of high Parnassus. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i, Yon forked and snowy hill. |
† d. of a mitre.
| 1509 Barclay Ship of Folys (1874) II. 279 No wyse man is desyrous to obtayne The forked cap without he worthy be. 1545 Brinklow Compl. 4 Banysshed my natyue contry..by the cruelty of the forkyd cappes of Ingland. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. vi. (1851) 128 She..sends her haughty Prelates from all parts with their forked Miters. |
e. Her. = forche. (Robson
Brit. Her. 1830).
| 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. c vj a, A certan forkyd cros..hit is called forkyd: for as moch as that all thendys of hit ar clouyn and forkyd. |
f. Having (a specified number of) forks or prongs, as
three-forked.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. ii. 13 A three forked fleshoke. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 59 With toonge three forcked furth spirts fyre. a 1628 F. Greville Monarchy dclii, To stirre, or calm the ocean's race, As royalties of his [Neptune's] three-forked mace. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 475 Some viper..darting a three-forked flickering tongue. |
† g. Of an arrow: Barbed.
Obs.| 1549 Stourton Let. in Wilts. Arch. Mag. (1864) VIII. 296 His crosse bow bent, and forked arrow in the same. 1611 Cotgr., Fer de fleiche à oreilles, a forked or barbed arrowe head. 1673 Dryden Assignation iii. i, I am wounded with a forked Arrow, which will not easily be got out. |
2. Having the lower half of the body divided; two-legged.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 113 A poore, bare, forked Animall as thou art. 1771 Exmoor Scold. 48 Thee wut come oll a gerred, and oll horry zo vurs tha art a vorked [= i-forked]. |
3. Of building: Characterized by the use of ‘forks’ (see
fork n. 7).
| 1792 J. Mastin Hist. Naseby 9 Some [houses]..of the most antique architecture, called forked building. |
4. Horned; also
spec. of deer: see
quot. 1674.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 476 The more she [the Moon] Fills her Forkéd Round. 1598 Ibid. ii. i. iii. Furies 600 With fisking train, with forked head, and foot Himselfe, th' Ayre, th' Earth, he beateth. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1677) i. 13 Heads having doubling Croches, are called Forked Heads, because the Croches are planted on the top of the Beam like Forks. |
b. ‘Horned’, ‘cornuted’, cuckolded.
a knight of the forked order: a cuckold.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 455 Thou puttest thy selfe in great danger, least thy rounde heade become forked. 1592 Greene Disput. Wks. (Grosart) X. 257 Let him dub her husband knight of the forked order. 1639 Mayne City Match in Dodsley O. Pl. (1780) IX. 373 And I am fork'd? hum! 1673 F. Kirkman Unlucky Citizen 95, I should be sure to be dubb'd a knight of the forked order. |
† 5. Of an argument, etc.: That points more than one way; containing a dilemma; ambiguous, equivocal.
Obs.| 1551 Bp. Gardiner Explication 80 b, What hath this auctor wonne nowe by his forked question? 1604–13 R. Cawdry Table Alph. (ed. 3), Dilemma, a forked kinde of argument. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. i, Giue forked counsel; take prouoking gold On eyther hand, and put it vp. 1663 J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 324 To this forked Objection I return these five considerations. 1681 Crowne Hen. VI, iv. 46 Must Justice starve because we want a Lawyer's forked distinctions to feed her neatly with? |
† b. Of a fee: Taken from both parties in a suit.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. (1869) 216 Ere thy palm shall know A postern-bribe took, or a forked-fee To fetter Justice. |
6. Done with a fork.
nonce-use.
| 1611 Coryat Crudities 91 To imitate the Italian fashion by this forked cutting of meate. |
7. ellipt. for
forked-headed or
-tailed.
| 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. ii. (1677) 161 The Forked Kite and bold Buzzard. 1769 Pennant Zool. (1776) III. 170 Forked Hake..is known on the coast of Cornwall by the name of the great forked beard, where it was first discovered by Mr. Jago. 1864 Couch Brit. Fishes III. 125 Forked Hake. |
8. Comb.: parasynthetic and similative, as
forked-wise adv.; also
† forked-beard = fork-beard;
forked-head, a forked or barbed arrow, a fork-head;
forked-tailed a., having a forked tail;
esp. in the names of birds (
cf. fork-tailed).
| 1713 Ray Syn. Pisc. 163 The great *Forked-beard. Ibid. 164 The lesser Forked-beard. |
| 1574 J. Fortescue in Hist. Fam. of F. (1869) II. 228 Arrows..as well *forked-heads as others. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 24 It irkes me the poore dapled fooles..Should..with forked heads Haue their round hanches goard. |
| 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xxxi. 95 A sorte of *forkte tailde flise. 1691 Ray Creation (1701) 167 The fork'd-tail'd Kite. 1843 Yarrell Brit. Birds III. 520 The Forked-tailed Petrel. |
| 1586 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 23 Children with a cloven upper lip, and *forked⁓wise, called an Hare-lip. |
Hence
ˈforkedly adv., in a forked manner;
ˈforkedness, the condition of being forked.
| 1603 Dekker Wonderf. Yeare E iv, Tongues forkedly cut. 1611 Cotgr., Fourcheure..forkednesse. a 1665 Goodwin Wks. (1692) III. 601 The forkedness of the Arrows. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 50 Sally..snapt her fingers at me, and pointing two of each hand forkedly at me, bid me [etc.]. 1789 G. White Selborne xviii. (1843) 230 Distinguished..by the length and forkedness of their tails. 1881 A. J. Duffield Don Quix. II. 555 [She] flung her body..across the saddle, and remained forkedly, as if she had been a man. |