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What is the difference between fodder and hay?

fodder | hay |

As nouns the difference between fodder and hay

is that fodder is food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc while hay is grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.

As verbs the difference between fodder and hay

is that fodder is to feed animals (with fodder) while hay is to cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.

fodder

English

Noun

  • Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
  • * 1598? , William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona ,Act I, scene I:
  • The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep.
  • A weight by which lead and some other metals were formerly sold, in England, varying from 19 1/2 to 24 cwt (993 to 1222 kg).; a fother.
  • * 1866 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , Volume 1, p. 168:
  • Now measured by the old hundred, that is, 108 lbs. the charrus contains nearly 19 1/2 hundreds, that is it corresponds to the fodder, or fother, of modern times.
  • (slang, drafting, design) Tracing paper.
  • (figurative) Something which serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour.
  • * '>citation
  • According to the audio commentary on “Treehouse Of Horror III,” some of the creative folks at The Simpsons were concerned that the “Treehouse Of Horror” franchise had outworn its welcome and was rapidly running out of classic horror or science-fiction fodder to spoof.
  • (cryptic crosswords) The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue.
  • * 2009 , "Colin Blackburn", another 1-off cryptic clue.'' (on newsgroup ''rec.puzzles.crosswords )
  • In (part of) Shelley's poem Ozymandias is a "crumbling statue". If this is the explanation then the clue is not a reverse cryptic in the same was(SIC) as GEGS -> SCRAMBLED EGGS but a normal clue where where the fodder and anagrind are *both* indirect.
  • * 2012 , David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words
  • Insane Roman! (4)'' Look in ''-sane Roman'' and you'll uncover NERO, the ''insane Roman''. Dovetailing the signpost — ''in'' — with the hidden fodder — ''sane Roman — is inspired, an embedded style of signposting.

    Synonyms

    * (animal food) provender

    Derived terms

    * cannon fodder * fodder radish

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (dialect) To feed animals (with fodder).
  • Anagrams

    *

    hay

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

  • (uncountable) Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
  • * Camden
  • Make hay while the sun shines.
  • * C. L. Flint
  • Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.
  • (countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
  • (slang) Cannabis; marijuana.
  • * 1947 , William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:
  • I would like some of that hay . Enclose $20.
  • A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.
  • (Rowe)
  • (obsolete) A hedge.
  • (obsolete) A circular country dance.
  • to dance the hay
    Derived terms
    * hay fever * hayloft, hay loft * haystack * hayward * hit the hay * make hay while the sun shines

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
  • To lay snares for rabbits.
  • (Huloet)

    References

    Webster's Online Dictionary article on hay

    Etymology 2

    : From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay'' and ''gay''. The expected form in English if the ''h'' had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", ''h? .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The name of the letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.
  • Anagrams

    * * * ----