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Bracket (), n. [Cf. OF. braguette codpiece, F. brayette, Sp. bragueta, also a projecting mold in architecture; dim. fr. L. bracae breeches; cf. also, OF. bracon beam, prop, support; of unknown origin. Cf. Breeches.]
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1. (Arch.) An architectural member, plain or ornamental, projecting from a wall or pier, to support weight falling outside of the same; also, a decorative feature seeming to discharge such an office.
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☞ This is the more general word. See Brace, Cantalever, Console, Corbel, Strut.
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2. (Engin. & Mech.) A piece or combination of pieces, usually triangular in general shape, projecting from, or fastened to, a wall, or other surface, to support heavy bodies or to strengthen angles.
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3. (Naut.) A shot, crooked timber, resembling a knee, used as a support.
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4. (Mil.) The cheek or side of an ordnance carriage.
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5. (Print.) One of two characters [], used to inclose a reference, explanation, or note, or a part to be excluded from a sentence, to indicate an interpolation, to rectify a mistake, or to supply an omission, and for certain other purposes; -- called also crotchet.
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6. A gas fixture or lamp holder projecting from the face of a wall, column, or the like.
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7. (Gunnery) A figure determined by firing a projectile beyond a target and another short of it, as a basis for ascertaining the proper elevation of the piece; -- only used in the phrase, to establish a bracket. After the bracket is established shots are fired with intermediate elevations until the exact range is obtained. In the United States navy it is called fork.
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Bracket light, a gas fixture or a lamp attached to a wall, column, etc.
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Fork (fôrk), n. [AS. forc, fr. L. furca. Cf. Fourché, Furcate.]
1. An instrument consisting of a handle with a shank terminating in two or more prongs or tines, which are usually of metal, parallel and slightly curved; -- used for piercing, holding, taking up, or pitching anything.
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2. Anything furcate or like a fork in shape, or furcate at the extremity; as, “a tuning fork”.
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3. 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.
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Let it fall . . . though the fork invade
The region of my heart. Shak.
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A thunderbolt with three forks. Addison.
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4. The place where a division or a union occurs; the angle or opening between two branches or limbs; as, “the fork of a river, a tree, or a road”.
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5. The gibbet. [Obs.] Bp. Butler.
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Fork beam (Shipbuilding), a half beam to support a deck, where hatchways occur. -- Fork chuck (Wood Turning), a lathe center having two prongs for driving the work. -- Fork head. (a) The barbed head of an arrow. (b) The forked end of a rod which forms part of a knuckle joint. -- In fork. (Mining) A mine is said to be in fork, or an engine to “have the water in fork,” when all the water is drawn out of the mine. Ure. -- The forks of a river or The forks of a road, the branches into which it divides, or which come together to form it; the place where separation or union takes place.
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Fork, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Forked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Forking.]
1. To shoot into blades, as corn.
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The corn beginneth to fork. Mortimer.
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2. To divide into two or more branches; as, “a road, a tree, or a stream forks”.
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Fork, v. t. To raise, or pitch with a fork, as hay; to dig or turn over with a fork, as the soil.
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Forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart. Prof. Wilson.
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To fork over To fork out, to hand or pay over, as money; to cough up. [Slang] G. Eliot.
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