fork

1. a tool you use for picking up and eating food, with a handle and three or four points:
Put the knives and forks on the table.
2. a garden tool used for digging, with a handle and three or four points ⇨ pitchfork¹
3. a place where a road, river, or tree divides into two parts, or one of the parts it divides into:
the north fork of the Sacramento river
Take the left fork then go straight on.
4. fork of lightning a sudden flash of ↑lightning with two or more lines of light
5. one of the two metal bars between which the front wheel of a bicycle or ↑motorcycle is fixed ⇨ tuning fork

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

fork

fork [fork forks forked forking] noun, verb [fɔːk] [fɔːrk]

noun

1. a tool with a handle and three or four sharp points (called prongs), used for picking up and eating food

• to eat with a knife and fork

2. a garden tool with a long or short handle and three or four sharp metal points, used for digging

3. a place where a road, river, etc. divides into two parts; either of these two parts
• Shortly before dusk they reached a fork and took the left-hand track.

• Take the right fork.

4. a thing shaped like a fork, with two or more long parts
• a jagged fork of lightning

5. either of two metal supporting pieces into which a wheel on a bicycle or motorcycle is fitted
Word Origin:
Old English forca, force (denoting a farm implement), based on Latin furca ‘pitchfork, forked stick’; reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman French furke (also from Latin furca).
Example Bank:
• Bear left at the fork in the road.
• He put the knives and forks on the table.
• Mash the mixture with a fork.
• She impaled a piece of meat on her fork.
• a fork in the road
• a monkey sitting in the fork of the tree

Derived: fork out ▪ fork out something

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition

ˈ bread ˌ knife noun [ C ]

a long, sharp knife that has a row of sharp points along one edge, and is used to cut bread

fork / fɔːk / / fɔːrk / noun [ C ] (GARDEN)

a tool with a long handle and three or four points, used for digging and breaking soil into pieces:

a garden fork.

fork / fɔːk / / fɔːrk / noun [ C ] (DIVISION)

a place where a road, river, etc. divides into two parts, or either of those two parts:

When you reach a fork in the road take the right-hand path.

Take the left-hand fork.

Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

fork

[fɔ͟ː(r)k]
forks, forking, forked
1) N-COUNT A fork is a tool used for eating food which has a row of three or four long metal points at the end.
...knives and forks.

3) N-COUNT A garden fork is a tool used for breaking up soil which has a row of three or four long metal points at the end.

5) N-COUNT: usu with supp A fork in a road, path, or river is a point at which it divides into two parts and forms a `Y' shape.
  We arrived at a fork in the road...
  The road divides; you should take the right fork.
  ...the fork of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

¹fork /ˈfoɚk/ noun, pl forks [count]
1 a : a small tool with two or more pointed parts (called prongs or tines) used for picking up and eating food
• a salad fork

b : a garden tool with two or more prongs used for lifting and digging soil - see also pitchfork
2 a : a place where something (such as a road or river) divides into two parts
• a fork in the road
b : either one of the parts that a road, river, etc., divides into
• take the left fork
• the north fork of the river
3 : a part or tool that divides into two parts
• the front fork of a bicycle