Forisfamiliation to Formality
Forisfamiliation
(Fo`ris*fa*mil`i*a"tion) n. (Law) The act of forisfamiliating.
Fork
(Fork) n. [AS. forc, fr. L. furca. Cf. Fourché, 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 for 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.
Fork
(Fork), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Forked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Forking.]
1. To shoot into blades, as corn.
The corn beginneth to fork.
Mortimer. 2. To divide into two or more branches; as, a road, a tree, or a stream forks.
Fork
(Fork), v. t. To raise, or pitch with a fork, as hay; to dig or turn over with a fork, as the soil.
Forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart.
Prof. Wilson. To fork over or out, to hand or pay over, as money. [Slang] G. Eliot.
Forkbeard
(Fork"beard`) n. (Zoöl.) (a) A European fish having a large flat head; — also called tadpole
fish, and lesser forked beard. (b) The European forked hake or hake's-dame (Phycis blennoides); —
also called great forked beard.
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.
A serpent seen, with forked tongue.
Shak. 2. Having a double meaning; ambiguous; equivocal.
Cross forked (Her.), a cross, the ends of whose arms are divided into two sharp points; — called also
cross double fitché. A cross forked of three points is a cross, each of whose arms terminates in three
