Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Fork, n. [ME. fork(e, OE. forca m., force f., L. furca.]

1. A large fork for use as an implement. a1400 Leg. S. xxxvii. 284.
He … bath wes bralit and brynt than With yrne forkis a1508 Kennedy Pass. Christ 585.
Sanct Lawrence … Apoun the fire with irne forkis downg doun 1582 Edinb. D. Guild Acc. 125.
Ane fork with ane hois to ane lang tre to help vp with the ladderis to the glas windoikisattrib. 1603 Elgin Rec. II. 109.
The strainger sturdie beggaris … haid mekill poll bourdon stavis with fork headis of irone c1650 Spalding I. 43.
The heid of the thrid lymmar thay cuttit af and set it vpone ane fork heid

b. A fork for eating with. Also fork-spoon, a spoon with a fork at the end of the handle. 1600 Treas. Acc. MS. 123 b.
Furnissing of knyiffis and forkis in the 1599 ȝeir 1693 Edinb. Test. LXXX. 32 b.
Ane litle spone and the heft of a forkspoone

2. A pair of timbers supporting an end of a roof-tree. 1571 Inverness B. Rec. I. 205.
To big ane sufficient chalmer of tuay cuppill and ij forkis at the ower end of the … land 1572 Ib. 221.
Ane chalmer rowme within the kirk yeard, extending to thre cuppill and tuay taill forkis

3. A fork of a stream. 1566 Bamff Chart. 103.
The entres of the umest forkis of the burn of Auldnaquhilleych

4. A gallows. 1596 Dalr. I. 121/2.
Lat him end his lyf vpon ane fork [L. furca]