FORAGE

forage, food for cattle or horses, chiefly the provender collected for the food of the horses of an army. in early usage the word was confined to the dried forage as opposed to grass. from this word comes "foray," an expedition in search of "forage," and hence a pillaging expedition, a raid. the word "forage," directly derived from the fr. _fourrage_, comes from a common teutonic origin, and appears in "fodder," food for cattle. the ultimate indo-european root, _pat_, cf. gr. [greek: pateisthai], lat. _pascere_, to feed, gives "food," "feed," "foster"; and appears also in such latin derivatives as "pastor," "pasture."