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Forks

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The gallows. (Latin, furca.) Cicero (de Divinitāte, i. 26) says, “Ferens furcam ductus est,” often quoted in proof that criminals condemned to the cross were obliged to carry their own cross to the place of execution. But the ordinary meaning of furca is a kind of yoke to which the hands of criminals were fastened. The punishment was of three degrees of severity: (1) The furca ignominiosa; (2) the furca pænālis; and (3) the furca capitālis. The first was for slight offences, and consisted in carrying the furca on the shoulders, more or less weighted. The second consisted in carrying the furca and being scourged. The third was being scourged to death. The word furcifer meant what we call a gallows-bad or vile fellow.

 

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Fore
Fore-and-Aft
Forecastle
Foreclose
Fore-shortened
Forfar
Forget-me-nots of the Angels
Forgive, blest Shade
Forgiveness
Fork Out
Forks
Forked Cap (A)
Forlorn Hope
Forlot or Firlot
Forma Pauperis (Latin, Under plea of poverty)
Fortiter in Re (Latin)
Fortunate Islands
Fortunatus
Fortune
Fortunio
Forty

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Furca
Furcam et Flagellum (gallows and whip)