FORAGE

foraging, forage

(noun) the act of searching for food and provisions

eatage, forage, pasture, pasturage, grass

(noun) bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle

forage

(verb) wander and feed; “The animals forage in the woods”

scrounge, forage

(verb) collect or look around for (food)

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

forage (countable and uncountable, plural forages)

Fodder for animals, especially cattle and horses.

An act or instance of foraging.

(obsolete) The demand for fodder etc by an army from the local population

Verb

forage (third-person singular simple present forages, present participle foraging, simple past and past participle foraged)

To search for and gather food for animals, particularly cattle and horses.

To rampage through, gathering and destroying as one goes.

To rummage.

Of an animal, to seek out and eat food.

Source: Wiktionary


For"age (; 48), n. Etym: [OF. fourage, F. fourrage, fr. forre, fuerre, fodder, straw, F. feurre, fr. LL. foderum, fodrum, of German or Scand, origin; cf. OHG. fuotar, G. futter. See Fodder food, and cf. Foray.]

1. The act of foraging; search for provisions, etc. He [the lion] from forage will incline to play. Shak. One way a band select from forage drives A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine. Milton. Mawhood completed his forage unmolested. Marshall.

2. Food of any kind for animals, especially for horses and cattle, as grass, pasture, hay, corn, oats. Dryden. Forage cap. See under Cap.

– Forage master (Mil.), a person charged with providing forage and the means of transporting it. Farrow.

For"age, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Foraged ; p. pr. & vb. n. Foraging.]

Definition: To wander or rove in search of food; to collect food, esp. forage, for horses and cattle by feeding on or stripping the country; to ravage; to feed on spoil. His most mighty father on a hill Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility. Shak. Foraging ant (Zoöl.), one of several species of ants of the genus Eciton, very abundant in tropical America, remarkable for marching in vast armies in search of food.

– Foraging cap, a forage cap.

– Foraging party, a party sent out after forage.

For"age, v. t.

Definition: To strip of provisions; to supply with forage; as, to forage steeds. Pope.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

18 June 2025

SOUARI

(noun) large South American evergreen tree trifoliate leaves and drupes with nutlike seeds used as food and a source of cooking oil


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.

coffee icon