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