English Explanatory Dictionary

foray

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid.
  2. A brief excursion or attempt, especially outside one's accustomed sphere.
verb
  1. To participate in a foray.
  2. To do or attempt something outside one's typical area of expertise.
  3. To scour an area for goods as part of a foray.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-foray.wav /ˈfɔɹ.eɪ/ /ˈfɑɹ.eɪ/ /ˈfɔɹ.æɪ/

Word forms

foray forays forrey foraying forayed

Etymology

From 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.

Derived words

forayer

Translations

Bulgarian: ограбвам Bulgarian: плячкосвам Catalan: pillar Czech: vydrancovat Czech: drancovat Czech: vyrabovat Czech: rabovat Czech: zpustošit Czech: pustošit Finnish: ryöstää Finnish: hävittää French: fourrager Italian: scorrazzare Italian: irrompere Italian: razziare Māori: pāhua Māori: pāhuahua Māori: tunutunu makai Māori: tunutunu mākaikai Welsh: fforio
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