From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
forage
n 1: animal food for browsing or grazing [syn: eatage,
pasture, pasturage, grass]
2: the act of searching for food and provisions [syn:
foraging]
v 1: collect or look around for (food) [syn: scrounge]
2: wander and feed; "The animals forage in the woods"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.
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He [the lion] from forage will incline to play.
--Shak.
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One way a band select from forage drives
A herd of beeves, fair oxen and fair kine. --Milton.
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Mawhood completed his forage unmolested. --Marshall.
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2. Food of any kind for animals, especially for horses and
cattle, as grass, pasture, hay, corn, oats. --Dryden.
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Forage cap. See under Cap.
Forage master (Mil.), a person charged with providing
forage and the means of transporting it. --Farrow.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forage \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.
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His most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility. --Shak.
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Foraging ant (Zool.), 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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forage \For"age\, v. t.
To strip of provisions; to supply with forage; as, to forage
steeds. --Pope.
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