▪ I. forage, n.
(ˈfɒrɪdʒ)
Forms: 5–6 fourage (6 fourr-), 5–8 forrage, 6–7 forradge, 4– forage.
[a. F. fourrage, f. OF. feurre fodder:—Com. Rom. *fodro, of Teut. origin: see fodder and -age.]
1. a. Food for horses and cattle; fodder, provender; in early use esp. dry winter food, as opposed to grass. Now chiefly provender for horses in an army.
| c 1315 Shoreham 122 The oxe and asse..Tho that hy seȝen hare creature [= Creator] Lyggynde ine hare forage. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's Prol. 14 Gras-tyme is doon, my fodder is now forage. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 177 No comparisoun twen good greyn and forage. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xviii. 8 b/2 They had nother ootes nor forage for them [horses]. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. xxxviii. 56 Spurry is good fourage or fodder for Oxen and kyen. 1610 Markham Masterp. i. xciii. 182 Next vnto grasse is forrage, which is onely the blades of greene corne. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1868/3 The Cavalry made hard shift to get Forage, many Horses dying for want thereof. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton vi. 106 A herb like a broad flat thistle supplied the buffaloes for drink as well as forage. 1770 Junius Lett. xxxvi. 175 note, This gentleman..was contractor for forage. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VII. xviii. viii. 254 Our Inns were now almost quite exhausted of forage in corn or hay. |
b. transf. and
fig.| 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 233 Some [Bees] o're the Publick Magazines preside, And some are sent new Forrage to provide. 1767 Fawkes Horace's Sat. ii. vi, Those Heaps of Forage he [a mouse] had glean'd with Care. 1792 F. Burney Let. 2 Oct., Sarah..seems perfectly satisfied with foreign forage. 1836 Johnsoniana i. 86 The minds of men who acquire no solid learning, and only exist on the daily forage they pick up by running about. |
2. a. The action of foraging or providing forage; hence, a roving search for provisions of any kind; sometimes, a raid for ravaging the ground from which the enemy draws his supplies.
† in forage: in search of forage.
| 1481 Caxton Godfrey xxxviii. 76 The Captayns..were ordeyned for to lede the peple in fourage. c 1500 Melusine lix. 351 Sayeng that they were frendes and that they had be all that nyght in fourrage. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. vi. 492 And thence made forrages into the Countrey. 1777 W. Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. iv, I went upon the forage to get something to eat. a 1873 Lytton Pausanias 51 My own brother..headed a detachment for forage. |
† b. transf. A raging or ravening.
Obs.| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 93 And he [the lion] from forrage will incline to play. 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 91 The Inhabitants..fled before the Fire, leaving it to its forradge. |
† 3. In
pl. Foragers.
Obs.| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xlix. 70 Their forages rode forthe, but they met nat, bycause the ryuer was euer bytwene them. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks 18 Sallying out to haue cut off the forrages of the Christians. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., attributive as
forage-crop,
forage-plant,
forage-store; also
forage-boat, a boat used for conveying forage;
forage-cap (see
quot. 1876);
forage-guard, a guard detailed to cover a foraging party;
forage harvester, an implement for harvesting forage grass (see
quot. 1944);
forage-master, an officer who attended to the forage, etc. of an army.
| 1848 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 210 By means of the *forage-boat. |
| 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie I. x, He wore a *forage-cap of fine blue cloth. 1844 Regul. & Ord. Army 157 The Forage Caps of the Non-commissioned Officers and Men. 1876 Voyle Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), Forage cap, the undress cap worn by infantry soldiers and known as the Glengarry forage cap. |
| 1875 in Encycl. Brit. I. 370/2 Herbage and *forage crops. |
| 1819 Rees Cycl., *Forrage-guard. |
| 1944 C. Culpin Farm Machinery (ed. 2) x. 226 The Allis Chalmers *forage harvester..is a machine which cuts the standing crop, conveys it..to a chopping cylinder, chops it into short lengths, and blows it into a trailer alongside. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 79/1 The forage-harvester..is the best thing that has hit grass farming; just as the binder revolutionized the cornfield. |
| 1579 Digges Stratiot. 109 He ought also to assigne a sufficient number of Horse to attende on the *Forrage maister. 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v. Forage, Forage-Master-General, formerly an officer under the marshall, who saw to the forage for the army, which duty is now performed by the Quarter-Master-General. 1861 U.S. Army Regul. 149 No wagon-master or forage-master shall be interested..in any wagon or other means of transport employed by the United States. |
| 1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) Gloss. Index, Herbage plants, *forage plants, such as clover and other plants cultivated chiefly for the herb. |
| 1868 Regul. & Ord. Army ¶584 Sentries over *forage stores. |
▪ II. forage, v. (
ˈfɒrɪdʒ)
Forms: 5–8
forrage, 6
four(r)age, 6–
forage.
[ad. F. fourrager, f. fourrage: see prec.] 1. trans. To collect forage from; to overrun (a country) for the purpose of obtaining or destroying supplies; to lay under contribution for forage. Also in wider sense, to plunder, pillage, ravage.
| 1417 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 56 Burninge, forrageing, & destroyinge all his contry. 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. i. xv. 24 They..spoyled and fouraged their territories. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 319 They, having first foraged their next neighbours, retired themselves within their defences. 1650 Fuller Pisgah i. 357 Those fond entertainers..having forraged the elements of aire, earth and water for provision for their guests. 1700 J. A. Astry tr. Saavedra Faxardo II. 247 To raise a great number of Soldiers, suffering them to Forage whole Countries. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xxxiii. 280 After which he foraged the lands of the Earl of Chester. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. IX. xxi. ii. 262 Noble and Peasant had been pillaged, ransomed, foraged, eaten-out by so many different Armies. |
| transf. and fig. 1641 Sir E. Dering in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 295 Who neglecting the best part of his office in God's Vineyard.. forrageth the Vines. 1667 South Serm. Ps. lxxxvii. 2 The captivated ark, which foraged their country more than a conquering army. |
2. intr. To rove in search of forage or provisions;
spec. of soldiers in the field.
| 1530 in Palsgr. 553/2. 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. x, Oxen and bulls, whiche..his men had taken in foraginge. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 610 When the Parents were gone abroad to forrage for them. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 283 Nor dare they [Bees] stray..Nor Forrage far, but short Excursions make. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3828/2 The Left Wing of the Army foraged near the Villages. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 286 A detachment..travelled slowly on, foraging among the villages. |
b. To make an inroad
on,
upon; to raid. Also
transf. and
fig.| 1642 Chas. I Message to Both Houses 11 July, He permitteth his Souldiers to..forrage upon the Countrey. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 43 Under their King Cochliarius foraging upon the Seacoast of Gaul. 1857 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets II. xv. 208 A boyish enterprise of foraging upon the hazel trees. 1886 Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 323 The consciousness that I had it to do would be so constantly foraging on my equanimity. |
3. To rove or hunt about as in search of supplies; to make a roving search
for; to rummage.
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 122 We may sally out boldly to forage for new discoveries in the field of contemplation. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall ii. 92 He passed many an hour foraging among the old manuscripts. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 24 He must forage abroad for anything he may want. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iv. xxxiii, Sir Hugo..wanted Deronda to forage for him on the legal part of the question. 1893 Q. [Couch] Delect. Duchy 217 He foraged in the pockets of his..coat. |
† 4. To glut oneself, as a wild beast; to raven.
lit. and
fig. Also, To batten or revel
in.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 554 With blind fold furie she begins to forrage. 1599 ― Hen. V, i. ii. 110 Whiles his.. Father..Stood smiling, to behold his Lyons Whelpe Forrage in blood of French Nobilitie. 1670 Stucley Gosp. Glass xxxiv. 362 The Plague..forraged in London, and the parts adjacent. 1698 Crowne Calig. v. 48 Go and prepare for this design to-night, And we'll to-morrow forrage in delight. |
5. trans. To supply with forage or food.
| 1552 Huloet, Foraged to be..pabulor. 1698 J. Fryer E. India & Persia 125 They..are now out of distrust the Moguls should Forrage their Army here. 1715–20 Pope Iliad viii. 627 Our steeds to forage and refresh our pow'r. 1810 in Mem. Visc. Combermere I. 139 We have been very well foraged since we have been here. 1880 Disraeli Endym. xiii, He foraged their pony..and supplied them from his dairy. |
6. To obtain by foraging or rummaging. Also with
out.
| 1656 Bp. Hall Occas. Medit. (1851) 74 This fowl..is ravenous: all is too little, that he can forage for himself. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. i. ii. (1872) 12 Two-thousand stand of arms..are foraged in this way. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis xxxvi, His valet..went out and foraged knowledge for him. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 19 He has foraged out some raw cabbage. |
Hence
ˈforaged ppl. a.;
ˈforaging ppl. a.| 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. iv. 54 Two of our forraging disorderly souldiers. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, cclxvi, Forraging Bees. a 1848 Whittier Yorktown v, With stolen beeves, and foraged corn. 1863 Bates Nat. Amazon II. v. 351 The Ecitons, or foraging ants. 1873 Holland A. Bonnic. xix. 306 A foraging squirrel picked up his dinner almost at my feet. |