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See Forkbeard.

r head, sharpened at both edges, and is thrown by hand, or discharged from a gun. Harpoon fork, a kind of hayfork, consisting of bar with hinged barbs at one end a loop for a rope at the other end, used for lifting hay from the load by horse power. -- Harpoon gun, a gun used in the whale fishery for shooting the harpo…

The noise made by a serpent. But hiss for hiss returned with forked tongue. Milton.

A forked exlpansion or divergence; a bifurcation; a branching. Craig.

A device for opening and closing an electrical circuit; a vibrating spring or tuning fork, arranged to make and break a circuit at rapidly recurring intervals, by the action of the current itself.

A notched or forked part, adapted for holding an object in place; as, the jaw of a railway-car pedestal. See Axle guard.

he genus Gallus, of which several species inhabit India and the adjacent islands; as, the fork-tailed jungle fowl (G. varius) of Java, G. Stanleyi of Ceylon, and G. Bankiva of India.

of which many species are known. They have long wings, adapted for soaring, and usually a forked tail.

Resembling the capitulum of burdock; covered with forked points.

oving from the clouds to the earth. -- Chain lightning, lightning in angular, zigzag, or forked flashes. -- Heat lightning, more or less vivid and extensive flashes of electric light, without thunder, seen near the horizon, esp. at the close of a hot day. -- Lightning arrester (Telegraphy), a device, at the place wh…

A pointed forked staff, shod with iron at the foot, to hold a lighted match for firing cannon. [Written also lintstock.]

Forked, with the points slightly curved outward.

A flowerless plant (Marchantia polymorpha), having an irregularly lobed, spreading, and forking frond.

A piece of timber with a forked end, used in dragging a heavy stone, a log, or the like, from a field. Lizard fish (Zoöl.), a marine scopeloid fish of the genus Synodus, or Saurus, esp. S. foetens of the Southern United States and West Indies; -- called also sand pike. -- Lizard snake (Zoöl.), the garter snake (Eutæni…

A South American stork (Euxenara maguari), having a forked tail.

low plant (Mandragora officinarum) of the Nightshade family, having a fleshy root, often forked, and supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts of the plant are strongly narcotic. It is found in the Mediterranean region. And shrieks like mandrake…

One of several species of swallows, usually having the tail less deeply forked than the tail of the common swallows. [Written also marten.]

called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic. -- May beetle, May bug (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of large lamellicorn beetles that appear in the winged state in May. They belong to Melolontha, a…

The forked bone of a fowl's breast; -- called also wishbone. See Furculum.

Like muck; mucky; also, used in collecting or distributing muck; as, a muck fork.