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The more benign meaning of the expression “To fork over” is simply the handing over of a good or item to another. A more stringent application refers to any enforced surrender of goods or services for money.

This latter meaning arose from a system of tenancy which obtained in wherein rich landlords held title to almost all the best farmland. The tenants who worked the land had to pay rent in silver to the landlords. The landlords employed agents who were quite notorious in their enforcement of payment of said rentals. In the event of a shortfall in the collection from a given farm, the tenant would have no choice but to dig his pitchfork into a pile or produce and “fork over” the best of the harvest. Tenants who were still found wanting even in the process of forking over the fat of the earth were eventually evicted.

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