From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
foray
n 1: a sudden short attack [syn: raid, maraud]
2: an initial attempt (especially outside your usual areas of
competence); "scientists' forays into politics"
v 1: steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people
looted the stores that were deserted by their owners"
[syn: plunder, despoil, loot, reave, strip,
rifle, ransack, pillage]
2: briefly enter enemy territory
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Foray \For"ay\ (f[o^]r"[asl] or f[-o]*r[=a]"; 277), n. [Another
form of forahe. Cf. Forray.]
A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any
irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The huge Earl Doorm, . . .
Bound on a foray, rolling eyes of prey. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Foray \For"ay\, v. t.
To pillage; to ravage.
[1913 Webster]
He might foray our lands. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]