Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A narrow, forked strip of material joining the front and back sections of the fingers of gloves.
  • noun Anatomy A small band or fold of mucous membrane forming the posterior margin of the vulva and connecting the posterior ends of the labia majora.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In surgery, an instrument used to raise and support the tongue during the operation of dividing the frenum.
  • noun In glove-making, the side of a finger, to which the front and back portions are sewed. Also forgette.
  • noun In ornithology, the furcula or united clavicles of a bird; the merrythought or wishbone of a fowl.
  • noun In anatomy, the frenulum pudendi; the small thin fold just within the posterior commissure of the vulva, separated therefrom by the fossa navicularis, and commonly ruptured in first parturition.
  • noun The combination in one hand of the cards immediately above and below the one led, such as queen and 10 over a jack.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A table fork.
  • noun A small fold of membrane, connecting the labia in the posterior part of the vulva.
  • noun The wishbone or furculum of birds.
  • noun The frog of the hoof of the horse and allied animals.
  • noun (Surg.) An instrument used to raise and support the tongue during the cutting of the frænum.
  • noun (Glove Making) The forked piece between two adjacent fingers, to which the front and back portions are sewed.
  • noun (Card Playing) The combination of the card immediately above and the one immediately below a given card.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy A fork-shaped structure, specifically the fold of skin where the labia minora meet above the perineum (the frenulum labiorum pudendi).
  • noun A fork-shaped instrument or device, specifically the forked structure between two fingers of a glove.
  • noun surgery An instrument used to raise and support the tongue during the cutting of the frenulum.
  • noun The wishbone or furculum of birds
  • noun The frog of the hoof of the horse and allied animals.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French forchete, fork, diminutive of forche, pitchfork, from Latin furca.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French fourchette.

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Examples

  • An amnihook and packets of lube scattered around a cake ... what the fourchette?

    The Bakers Wrecked 'Em 2010

  • Penelope; “a déjeûner à la fourchette — we know, Clara, you would die of doing the honours of a formal dinner.”

    Saint Ronan's Well 2008

  • (The indigenous word for "fork", a utensil introduced to the area by the French, is a delightful example of this exchange - the French fourchette became, and still is, fourchetl to the region's locals.)

    Vanilla: A Mexican Native Regains Its Reputation 2006

  • They took a close look at Cap Fourchu which resembled the tongs of a fourchette, or fork, and Champlain studied an attractive harbor that is now the port of Yarmouth.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • J'ai une assez bonne idée de la fourchette (comparé à d'autres événements du même calibre) et clairement, on va pas chercher dans les tarifs Web2.0 Expo ou LeWeb3 (ou même LIFT), mais on ne va pas non plus pouvoir faire un événement commercial à “très bas prix” (la conférence à 99€, ça va pas le faire).

    Going Solo Venues, Open Stage, and Link Love — Climb to the Stars 2008

  • The fork is modern even in the East and the Moors borrow their term for it from fourchette.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • (The indigenous word for "fork", a utensil introduced to the area by the French, is a delightful example of this exchange - the French fourchette became, and still is, fourchetl to the region's locals.)

    Vanilla: A Mexican Native Regains Its Reputation 2006

  • Now this merchant was a belle fourchette, and the Robber seeing this, said to himself, “I have found my chance.”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • They took a close look at Cap Fourchu which resembled the tongs of a fourchette, or fork, and Champlain studied an attractive harbor that is now the port of Yarmouth.

    Champlain's Dream David Hackett Fischer 2008

  • Wine/Food: Provence Food and Wine:: Cucina Testa Rossa:: Ann Mah:: Robert Camuto:: Feasting on Pixels:: Domaine du Banneret:: Fromages. com:: Chocolate & Zucchini:: Station Gourmande:: Cornichon:: french feast:: Joie de Vivre:: la gramiere:: Cuisine et Compagnie:: About French Cuisine:: Thyme for cooking:: French Country Wines:: la fourchette s'est emballée:: Divina Cucina:: Kitty Morse's Cooking at the Kasbah:: French Tornado::

    links - French Word-A-Day 2005

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    September 23, 2011