Prong

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Prong, n. [Cf. D. prangen to pinch, press, LG. prange a stick, or W. procio to thrust, E. prowl, pang.].

•  A sharp-pointed instrument.  [1913 Webster]

  "Prick it on a prong of iron."  [1913 Webster]
•  The tine of a fork, or of a similar instrument; as, a fork of two or three prongs.  [1913 Webster]
•  A sharp projection, as of an antler.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Prong, n. & v.
--n. each of two or more projecting pointed parts at the end of a fork etc.
--v.tr.
1 pierce or stab with a fork.
2 turn up (soil) with a fork.

Idiom

prong-buck (or -horn or -horned antelope) a N. American deerlike ruminant, Antilocapra americana, the male of which has horns with forward-pointing prongs. three-pronged attack an attack on three separate points at once.

Derivative

pronged adj. (also in comb.).

Etymology

ME (also prang), perh. rel. to MLG prange pinching instrument

THESAURUS

Prong

V, affluent, bayou, billabong, branch, confluent, confluent stream, crotch, crutch, delta, dendritic drainage pattern, effluent, fan, feeder, fork, furcula, furculum, groin, inguen, offshoot, ramification, stem, tributary, trident, wishbone

ROGET THESAURUS

Prong

bisection

N bisection, bipartition, dichotomy, subdichotomy, halving, dimidiation, bifurcation, forking, branching, ramification, divarication, fork, prong, fold, half, moiety, bisected, cloven, cleft, bipartite, biconjugate, bicuspid, bifid, bifurcous, bifurcate, bifurcated, distichous, dichotomous, furcular, semi-, demi-, hemi.