forage
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to collect forage from; strip of supplies; plunder.
to forage the countryside.
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to supply with forage.
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to obtain by foraging.
noun
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food for horses or cattle, esp hay or straw
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the act of searching for food or provisions
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military a raid or incursion
verb
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to search (the countryside or a town) for food, provisions, etc
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(intr) military to carry out a raid
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(tr) to obtain by searching about
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(tr) to give food or other provisions to
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(tr) to feed (cattle or horses) with such food
Synonym Usage
See feed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have foragedperfect
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has foragedperfect 3rd person singular
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am foragingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been foragingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is foragingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are foragingprogressive
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have been foragingperfect progressive
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foragingparticiple
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foragessingular 3rd person
Past
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had foragedperfect
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was foragingprogressive singular
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foragedsimple
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had been foragingperfect progressive
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were foragingprogressive plural
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foragedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of forage
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Old French fourrage, derivative of fuerre fodder (from Germanic )
Explanation
To forage is to wander around looking for food. When it’s cold and snowy outside, birds may forage for food in your backyard, digging around for whatever they can find. The verb forage often describes animals searching for food, but it can also be applied to people. In those circumstances it retains the slightly desperate sense of coming up with whatever is available. For example, if you want to cook dinner but have no time to go to the grocery store, you might forage your refrigerator and cabinets to find good substitutes for ingredients in your recipe.
Vocabulary lists containing forage
Touching Spirit Bear
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The One and Only Ivan
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"The Hunger Games" Vocabulary from Chapter 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A relief even if prices were high, says Ludmilla, as people have had to forage for food in the abandoned homes of neighbours.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
Species that feed on invertebrates, forage along the bottom, or rely on ambush strategies to catch prey also showed higher rates of contamination compared with other fish.
From Science Daily • Feb. 3, 2026
Saudi Arabia has banned the domestic farming of alfalfa and other forage crops because the country’s groundwater has been depleted.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 13, 2026
We entered just to browse, but Billy personally sized my head and recommended a blue Union Army forage cap.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
His father, a happy-go-lucky and reckless buck, had thought nothing of living close to human beings except that he would be able to forage in their garden in the early morning.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
