forkhead

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From fork +‎ head.

Noun[edit]

forkhead (plural forkheads)

  1. (biochemistry) A sequence of amino acids that forms a motif, in FOX proteins, that binds to DNA.
  2. The forked end of a rod in a knuckle joint or similar.
  3. (obsolete) An arrow with a barbed tip.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      With that at him a quiv'ring dart he threw, / With so fell force, and villeinous despite, / That through his haberjeon the forkehead flew, / And through the linked mayles empierced quite […]
  4. (minced oath) Euphemistic form of fuckhead.
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