▪ I. fodder, n.
(ˈfɒdə(r))
Forms: 1 fód(d)or, fód(d)er, fóddur, 2 fodre, 3 south. vodder, 4 foddre, 4–7 foder, 5 foddur, south. voddur, fo(o)dyr, 6 footer, 6–8 fother, 3– fodder.
[OE. fódor str. neut. = MDu. and Du. voeder, OHG. fuotar (MHG. vuoter, Ger. futter), ON. fóðr (Sw., Da. foder):—OTeut. *fôðro{supm}:—pre-Teut. *pāt-ró-m, f. root pā̆t- to feed: see food.
The homophonous word in all Teut. langs., with the sense of ‘sheath, case,’ is distinct both in root and suffix, as it represents OAryan *pō-tróm.]
† 1. Food in general. Obs.
| c 1000 Canons Edgar §15 in Thorpe Anc. Laws II. 283 Gif..þam þe þæs beþurfe..fyr & foddor. c 1205 Lay. 27031 Heo weoren ifaren into þan londe, fodder to biwinnen. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. metr. vii. 115 (Camb. MS.) He..hath put an vnmeke lorde foddre to his crwel hors. 1634 J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater Kent 12 Let any come in the shape of fodder or eating-stuffe, it is welcome. |
2. Food for cattle. Now in a more restricted sense: Dried food, as hay, straw, etc., for stall-feeding.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xlii. 27 Þa undyde hira an his sacc & wolde syllan his assan foddur. c 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 501 Sagina, fodre. a 1225 Ancr. R. 416 Þeonne mot heo þenchen of þe kues foddre. a 1300 Cursor M. 3317 (Cott.) Fodder and hai þou sal find bun. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's Prol. 14 Gras-tyme is doon, my fodder is now forage. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 168/2 Foddur, bestys mete, or forage. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 74 Som nationes make fother for Cattel of Dates. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 331 The youthful Bull must..in the Stall..his Fodder find. 1765 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 207 The hay..serves for fodder for their cattle. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 634 Bean-straw makes good fodder, when cut to chaff. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect II. 323 There was fodder running to waste on the slopes of every mountain. |
| transf. 1890 A. J. Wauters Stanley's Emin Pasha Exped. ix. 167 For fodder all they [locomotives] want is wood. |
† 3. Child, offspring.
Obs. rare—1.
Cf. food n. 6.
| 13.. K. Alis. 645 Kyng Phelip saide to the modur, ‘Thou hast born a sori foder!’ |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
fodder-crop,
fodder-cutter,
fodder grass,
fodder house,
fodder passage,
fodder plant,
fodder-rack,
fodder-stack;
fodder-cheese (see
quot. 1884);
fodder-corn, a supply of fodder for the horses of a feudal lord, or an equivalent in money; also the right of exacting this; also
U.S., maize used as fodder.
| 1784 Twamley Dairying 25 As the quantity of..*Fodder Cheese sent to London Markets clearly shews. 1884 Chesh. Gloss., Fodder cheese, cheese made..when they [cows] are being foddered on hay. |
| 1655 Dugdale Monast. Angl. i. 297 a, Redditus qui dicuntur Hidagium & *Foddercorn. 1856 in D.A. s.v., Hauled up two loads wood & 1 of fodder corn. 1947 Reader's Digest Jan. 59/2 Barns and stable-loft bulging with hay, grain and fodder corn. |
| 1850 Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1849: Agric. 158 It is..a *fodder-crop and an improver of the land. |
| 1867 Rep. Mass. Board Agric. I. 297 Hay and *fodder cutters have become quite indispensable. |
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 304 The best *fodder-Grasses of Europe are usually dwarf species. |
| 1807 P. Gass Jrnl. 209 This lodge is built much after the form of the Virginia *fodder houses. |
| 1882 Ogilvie, *Fodder passage, the passage in a cattle-shed along which the food is carried for cattle. |
| 1848 Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1847 229 The perfection which has been obtained in the root culture and of the *fodder-plants. 1894 Daily News 25 June 6/6 A new *fodder plant, known as the Siberian knot-grass. |
| 1902 Daily Chron. 9 Sept. 3/1 When he [sc. a horse] happens to be confronted with an overhead *fodder-rack..he raises his head to snatch a mouthful and then lowers it to the pendent position. 1961 Countryman LVIII. 464, I doubt if a single Corsican flock knows the luxury of fodder-racks for the night. |
| a 1738 W. Byrd Hist. Dividing Line (1929) 305 When it rain'd, or was colder than Ordinary, the whole Family took refuge in a *Fodder Stack (not far from their roofless house). 1835 A. B. Longstreet Georgia Scenes (1871) 24 He commanded all the corn-cribs and fodder-stacks in Georgia. 1890 Century Mag. Dec. 284 The fodder stacks..might conceal dozens of guerrillas. |
▪ II. fodder, v. (
ˈfɒdə(r))
Forms: 3
foþer, 4
foddre, 5–6
foder, 7–8
fother, 6–
fodder.
[f. prec. n.; cf. MDu. and Du. voederen, OHG. fuotiren (MHG. vuotern, vüetern, Ger. füttern), ON. fóðra.] trans. To give fodder to (cattle); to feed
with (something) as fodder.
† In early use
gen. To feed.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxx[i]. 3 For þi name me lede and foþer [printed froþer: Vulg. enutries] þou sal. 1382 [see foddered ppl. a.]. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 89 Let us go foder our mompyns. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §70 Horses and shepe, maye not be fodered together in wynter. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 73 Yow are neaver to..fother sheepe soe longe as they can gette any thing on the grownde. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 172 Straw will do well enough to Fodder them with. 1773 Barker in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 222 There was so little grass..that many were forced to fodder their cattle. 1832 Miss Mitford Village Ser. v. (1863) 328 A lad..had gone thither for hay to fodder his cattle. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v. Fodder, ‘Fodder'd up’, fed and bedded, as the stalled animals. |
| transf. and fig. 1659 H. More Immort. Soul iii. xviii. §12 This notion of foddering the Stars with the thick foggs of the Earth. 1742 Young Nt. Th. vii. 42 This foreign field, Where nature fodders him [man] with other food. 1891 Daily News 26 Jan. 6/3 They..fodder their souls on all kinds of stale and withered doctrinal herbage. |
† b. To give cattle fodder upon (ground). Also
to fodder on (ground), in
indirect passive.
Obs.| 1655 [see foddering 1]. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. May 56 A place that has been well fother'd on. 1693 [see foddered ppl. a.]. |
Hence
ˈfoddered ppl. a.| 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. xxviii. 24 A foddred [1388 fat] calf. 1692 Dryden Cleomenes iii. ii, Accursed be thou, grass-eating foddered god! 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Gloss., Fotherd Grounds, ground upon which Cattel are fed in Winter, with Hay, &c., to better it. 1713 Young Last Day ii. 256 The fodder'd beast. 1864 Ret. Agric. Soc. Maine 52 It will require the attraction of provender..to bring them [sc. sheep] back to their foddered rack. |
▪ III. fodder obs. form of
fother.