/ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/, /ˈfɔɹ.eɪ/, /ˈfɑɹ.eɪ/
OriginFrom Middle English forrayen (“to pillage”), a back-formation of forrayour, forreour, forrier (“raider, pillager”), from Old French forrier, fourrier, a derivative of fuerre (“provender, fodder, straw”), from Frankish *fōdar (“fodder, sheath”), from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“fodder, feed, sheath”), from Proto-Indo-European *patrom (“fodder”), *pat- (“to feed”), *pāy- (“to guard, graze, feed”).
Cognate with Old High German fuotar (German Futter (“fodder, feed”)), Old English fōdor, fōþer (“food, fodder, covering, case, basket”), Dutch voeder (“forage, food, feed”), Danish foder (“fodder, feed”), Icelandic fóður (“fodder, sheath”). More at fodder, food, forage.
- A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid.
- A brief excursion or attempt, especially outside one's accustomed sphere.
“Bastian Schweinsteiger and Muller were among many who should have added the third, and City were limited to rare forays with the excellent Boateng pinching the ball off Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov s”
- To participate in a foray.
“The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of r”
- To do or attempt something outside one's typical area of expertise.
“"It seems as though I have lived this life always. The world of books and bookish folk is very vague, more like a dream memory than an actuality. I surely have hunted and forayed and fought all the da”
“Over the summer, I'd been following the news cycle, foraying into online journalism, and I wrote a couple of pieces on male victims of sexual violence, who are often left to the margins or forgotten a”
- archaic, transitiveTo scour an area for goods as part of a foray.
“He bad to open wyde his brazen gate,
Which long time had bene shut, and out of hond
Proclaymed joy and peace through all his state;
For dead now was their foe which them forrayed late.”
“Bruce forayed Cumberland, and threatened Berwick, so that the poor Countess of Buchan was removed from thence to a more secure place of captivity.”
Formsforays(plural) · forrey(alternative, obsolete) · forays(present, singular, third-person) · foraying(participle, present) · forayed(participle, past) · forayed(past)