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.
© Webster 1913.
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 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.
© Webster 1913.
For"age (?), v. t.
To strip of provisions; to supply with forage; as, to forage steeds.
Pope.
© Webster 1913.