a. Obs. exc. dial. In 8–9 dial. forkin. [f. FORK sb. + -EN5, or after str. pa. pples.] Forked. Forken-robin, the earwig.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 52. With a great outcry answered, That they would no more yield their obedience to an old bald Man, as having received many harms from the hoary hairs of old Andronicus; and therefore for his sake hated every old Man, more fit for Charons Boat, and his Coffin, than for an Empire, and especially if he had a forken Beard, and bald Head, as had Andronicus and this Ducas.
1691. Ray, N. C. Words, A Forkin-Robbin; an Earwig; called from its forked Tail.
So in Bailey (1721), and Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss. (1868).
