prong
UK /pɹɒŋ/ · US /pɹɔŋ/ noun, verb
Also a form of pronk
Forms prongs pronging pronged
- noun A thin, pointed, projecting part, as of an antler or a fork or similar tool. “a pitchfork with four prongs”
- noun (sometimes figurative) A branch; a fork. “the two prongs of a river”
- noun (Cornwall) A fork (agricultural tool).
- noun (colloquial) The penis.
- verb To pierce or poke with, or as if with, a prong.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English pronge, perhaps from Middle Low German prange (“stick, restraining device”), from prangen (“to press, pinch”), from Old Saxon *prangan, from Proto-West Germanic *prangan, from Proto-Germanic *pranganą (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)preng- (“to wrap up, constrict”).
Akin to Lithuanian spriñgti (“to choke, become choked or obstructed”), Latvian sprañgât (“cord, constrict”), Ancient Greek σπαργανόω (sparganóō, “to swaddle”), σπάργανον (spárganon, “swaddling cloth”). See also prank, prance, prink.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A sharp-pointed instrument.
- noun The tine of a fork, or of a similar instrument; as, a fork of two or three prongs.
Etymology [Cf. D. prangen to pinch, press, LG. prange a stick, or W. procio to thrust, E. prowl, pang.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “prong”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details