fork

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fork

1. a small usually metal implement consisting of two, three, or four long thin prongs on the end of a handle, used for lifting food to the mouth or turning it in cooking, etc.

2. an agricultural tool consisting of a handle and three or four metal prongs, used for lifting, digging, etc.

3. Chess a position in which two pieces are forked

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fork

(operating system)

A Unix system call used by a process (the "parent") to make a copy (the "child") of itself. The child process is identical to the parent except it has a different process identifier and a zero return value from the fork call. It is assumed to have used no resources.

A fork followed by an exec can be used to start a different process but this can be inefficient and some later Unix variants provide vfork as an alternative mechanism for this.

See also fork bomb.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

References in classic literature ?

Before he could regain his feet, Mulcachy was upon him, shouting to his small audience: "Here's where we pound the argument out of him!" And pound he did, on the nose with the butt of the whip, and jab he did, with the iron fork to the ribs.

Mulcachy was equipped with a long-lashed whip and a sharp-pronged fork of iron.

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14th September, they encamped on the forks of the Wind or Bighorn River.

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A mile above the forks, running velvet-footed as was his custom, a gliding shadow that cautiously prospected each new vista of the trail, he came upon later imprints of the large tracks he had discovered in the early morning.

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It took the form of a dozen quaintly shaped forks and knives.

If you doubt the penitence as a practical fact, there are your knives and forks. You are The Twelve True Fishers, and there are all your silver fish.

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"What's the matter with the Fork, that you can't abide it?" said Stalky.

My orders were to take no notice so long as they circulated, but open slave-dealing in the Fork, was too much.

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"I maun joost see that the cook's;'s dune her duty--the creatures are no' capable o' decidin' that knotty point for their ain selves." He took off one of the covers, and picked bits, here and there, out of the dish with the fork " Eh!

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A peal of merry laughter answered her, and the knives and forks fell to the plates with a clatter.

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They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; They pursued it with forks and hope; They threatened its life with a railway-share; They charmed it with smiles and soap.

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But that darkness was licked up by the fierce flames, which at intervals forked forth from the sooty flues, and illuminated every lofty rope in the rigging, as with the famed Greek fire.