noun

• (by abstraction, from the tool shape) A fork in the road, as follows:
• (by abstraction, from the tool shape) A fork in the road, as follows:
• (by abstraction, from the tool shape) A point where a waterway, such as a river or other stream, splits and flows into two (or more) different directions.
• (metonymic, analogous to any prong of a pronged tool) 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.
  "a thunderbolt with three forks"

verb

• (ambitransitive) To divide into two or more branches or copies.
  "A road, a tree, or a stream forks."
• (ambitransitive) To divide into two or more branches or copies.
  "A parent process forks a child process, which in turn can fork other processes."
• (ambitransitive) To divide into two or more branches or copies.
  "For various reasons, McCool's server project subsequently forked, leading to the development of the Apache Web Server."
• (ambitransitive) To divide into two or more branches or copies.
  "In this model, anyone can fork an existing repository and push changes to their personal fork."

noun

• (mining) The bottom of a sump into which the water of a mine drains.

verb

• (mining, transitive) To bale a shaft dry.
  "Forking the water, is drawing it all out; and when it is done, they say, “the mine or the water is forked;” and “the engine is in fork.”"