Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Forage?

\For"age\ (?; 48), n. [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}.] 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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. To strip of provisions; to supply with forage; as, to forage steeds. --Pope.