fork out
to pay money
TRANSLATION
fork out = ausgeben, berappen GOOGLE INDEX fork out: approximately 4,300,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
It was the announcement that Warren Buffett - the man often described as the world's greatest investor - was FORKING OUT $44 billion for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) which made the news.
(BBC News)
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According to reports today, pop star George Michael has FORKED OUT £3.9 million on property which sits on a secluded spot on Whales Beach.
(The Daily Mail)
(BBC News)
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According to reports today, pop star George Michael has FORKED OUT £3.9 million on property which sits on a secluded spot on Whales Beach.
(The Daily Mail)
Did you
know?
fork out
phrasal verb
to pay an amount of money, especially unwillingly
(Cambridge Dictionary)
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The place where a broad river, tree or road divides into branches is called a "fork". You can easily imagine that this term can be used to talk about hands, too, in particular about the fingers.
Around the 17th and 18th century, thieves sometimes referred to fingers as forks, perhaps because they often used their fingers to eat, but more probably because of the shape. By putting your forks, in other words, the forefinger and middle finger, into someone's pocket or handbag, you can easily pull out the wallet. Consequently, to "fork" was another way of saying to "pick someone's pocket".
As anyone who has read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens knows, there was a lively community of pickpockets in English cities at the time. In modern usage, when you fork out money, you pay it unwillingly, or you feel that you have paid too much for a product or service, so you might feel the money is being pulled from your pocket.
"Fork over" or "fork up" are often used as well, particularly in the US.
Other eating utensils are used figuratively or as phrasal verbs as well. For instance, the spoon and knife:
spoon up = To serve something that requires finding and bringing up out of a pot with a spoon (Can you spoon up some of the vegetables from that stew?)
pull out a knife = to bring out a knife suddenly so that it is ready to use against someone (I gave him all my money as soon as he pulled out the knife.)
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SYNONYMS
dish out, dole out, shell out, cough up
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation:
"I don't mind forking out extra money for good quality."
phrasal verb
to pay an amount of money, especially unwillingly
(Cambridge Dictionary)
---
The place where a broad river, tree or road divides into branches is called a "fork". You can easily imagine that this term can be used to talk about hands, too, in particular about the fingers.
Around the 17th and 18th century, thieves sometimes referred to fingers as forks, perhaps because they often used their fingers to eat, but more probably because of the shape. By putting your forks, in other words, the forefinger and middle finger, into someone's pocket or handbag, you can easily pull out the wallet. Consequently, to "fork" was another way of saying to "pick someone's pocket".
As anyone who has read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens knows, there was a lively community of pickpockets in English cities at the time. In modern usage, when you fork out money, you pay it unwillingly, or you feel that you have paid too much for a product or service, so you might feel the money is being pulled from your pocket.
"Fork over" or "fork up" are often used as well, particularly in the US.
Other eating utensils are used figuratively or as phrasal verbs as well. For instance, the spoon and knife:
spoon up = To serve something that requires finding and bringing up out of a pot with a spoon (Can you spoon up some of the vegetables from that stew?)
pull out a knife = to bring out a knife suddenly so that it is ready to use against someone (I gave him all my money as soon as he pulled out the knife.)
---
SYNONYMS
dish out, dole out, shell out, cough up
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation:
"I don't mind forking out extra money for good quality."
