Forklift

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈfɔɹklɪft/

Definitions

1. A specialized machinery used in warehouses to elevate and carry substantial goods utilizing forked attachments
2. An industrial vehicle designed for maneuvering and lifting heavy items with its forked grappling tools
3. A type of mechanical equipment employed in storage facilities for the purpose of lifting and transporting heavy loads via its pronged lifting devices

Etymology: The forklift is a compound of two plain English words, "fork" and "lift," and its history is mostly the story of those parts combining into a machine. A fork, in the sense of a pronged implement, goes back to Old English, and the lifting sense of "lift" is equally old. The joining of the two is what produced a new object: a vehicle whose load-bearing arms are a pair of prongs that slide under a pallet and raise it. Because the word is a transparent compound, nothing about its spelling or sound needed to be invented. What the word captures is the design itself. The prongs are the "fork" and the mechanism that raises them is the "lift," so the name describes the machine as plainly as a builder would.

Synonyms: lift truck, pallet jack, fork truck