fodder

[fod-er]

noun

1. coarse food for livestock, composed of entire plants, including leaves, stalks, and grain, of such forages as corn and sorghum.

2. people considered as readily available and of little value.

   cannon fodder.

3. raw material.

   fodder for a comedian's routine.

verb (used with object)

1. to feed with or as if with fodder.

fodder

/ ˈfɒdə /

noun

1. bulk feed for livestock, esp hay, straw, etc

2. raw experience or material

   fodder for the imagination

verb

1. (tr) to supply (livestock) with fodder

Word History and Origins

Origin of fodder¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fodder, fōdor; cognate with German Futter; akin to food

Word History and Origins

Origin of fodder¹

Old English fōdor ; related to Old Norse fōthr , Old High German fuotar ; see _food , _forage

Synonym Study

See feed.

Example Sentences

That loss becomes the driving force of the doc, with Maron’s grief informing his daily life and thought process, while also providing cathartic, darkly humorous fodder for his stand-up gigs.

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The department’s justification was blunt, casting the survey as “redundant, costly, politicized and extraneous,” saying that the report had “failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder.”

Read more on Salon

And what most people remember about their performance is that Paula Cole didn’t shave her armpits, resulting in months of fodder for late-night comedians.

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Like so much of her career, Deen’s plea for forgiveness was outsized and totally singular, so much so that it became fodder to convey the brief intensity of an otherwise banal annoyance.

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Was scheduling cannon fodder such as Missouri State a necessary step to reach the College Football Playoff or a cynical effort to conceal USC’s mediocrity?

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Related Words

• barley 
• corn 
• food 
• forage 
• grain 
• hay