FORAGE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forage mean? 

• FORAGE (noun)
  The noun FORAGE has 2 senses:

1. bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle

2. the act of searching for food and provisions

  Familiarity information: FORAGE used as a noun is rare.

• FORAGE (verb)
  The verb FORAGE has 2 senses:

1. collect or look around for (food)

2. wander and feed

  Familiarity information: FORAGE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

eatage; forage; grass; pasturage; pasture

Hypernyms ("forage" is a kind of...):

fodder (coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop)

Derivation:

forage (wander and feed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of searching for food and provisions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

forage; foraging

Hypernyms ("forage" is a kind of...):

hunt; hunting; search (the activity of looking thoroughly in order to find something or someone)

Derivation:

forage (collect or look around for (food))

• FORAGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forage    ... he / she / it forages   
Past simple: foraged   
Past participle: foraged   
-ing form: foraging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Collect or look around for (food)

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

forage; scrounge

Hypernyms (to "forage" is one way to...):

hunt; hunt down; run; track down (pursue for food or sport (as of wild animals))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forage"):

rustle (forage food)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

forage; foraging (the act of searching for food and provisions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wander and feed

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

The animals forage in the woods

Hypernyms (to "forage" is one way to...):

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forage"):

predate; prey; raven (prey on or hunt for)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sentence example:

The animals forage

Derivation:

forage (bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle)

 Context examples 

By observing a partner’s foraging choices, for instance, we learn which foods are valuable and worth choosing.

(‘Mindreading’ neurons simulate decisions of social partners, University of Cambridge)

The scientists predicted the extent to which foraging rates would drop if different numbers of species disappeared from the ecosystem.

(Galapagos sea life study highlights importance of biodiversity in the face of climate change, National Science Foundation)

Foraging about, I found a bottle with some brandy left, for Hands; and for myself I routed out some biscuit, some pickled fruits, a great bunch of raisins, and a piece of cheese.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

All his days White Fang had foraged among the live things for food.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The event temporarily pushed the fish and squid on which king penguins depend beyond their foraging range.

(Study: World's Largest King Penguin Colony Declines Sharply, VOA)

This foraging partnership was recorded in print as early as 1588, when a Portuguese missionary in what is now Mozambique observed a small brown bird slipping into his church to nibble his wax candles.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

If an affordable product like this was available, foraging could become even more popular and possibly safer.

(New Test Identifies Poisonous Mushrooms, Agricultural Research Service)

They were but a foraging party—a hundred archers and as many men-at-arms—but their leader was Sir Hugh Calverley, and he was not a man to bide idle when good blows were to be had not three leagues from him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The virtual bird simulation was unique in allowing the researchers to identify the impact of a daily physiological stressor in the desert — heat — as birds leave the shade to forage for food or find mates.

(Collapse of desert bird populations likely due to heat stress from climate change, National Science Foundation)

It was well I secured this forage, or both she, I, and Sophie, to whom I conveyed a share of our repast, would have run a chance of getting no dinner at all: every one downstairs was too much engaged to think of us.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)