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Forge vs Forage - What's the difference?

forge | forage |

As nouns the difference between forge and forage

is that forge is furnace or hearth where metals are heated prior to hammering them into shape while forage is fodder for animals, especially cattle and horses.

As verbs the difference between forge and forage

is that forge is to shape a metal by heating and hammering while forage is to search for and gather food for animals, particularly cattle and horses.

forge

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) forge, early Old French faverge, from (etyl) (genitive fabri).

Noun

(wikipedia forge) (en noun)
  • Furnace or hearth where metals are heated prior to hammering them into shape.
  • Workshop in which metals are shaped by heating and hammering them.
  • The act of beating or working iron or steel.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • In the greater bodies the forge was easy.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) forger, from (etyl) forgier, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (lb) To shape a metal by heating and hammering.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Mars's armor forged for proof eterne
  • *
  • *:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.
  • To form or create with concerted effort.
  • :
  • *(John Locke) (1632-1705)
  • *:Those names that the schools forged , and put into the mouth of scholars, could never get admittance into common use.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves.
  • To create a forgery of; to make a counterfeit item of; to copy or imitate unlawfully.
  • :
  • To make falsely; to produce, as that which is untrue or not genuine; to fabricate.
  • *1663 , , (Hudibras)
  • *:That paltry story is untrue, / And forged to cheat such gulls as you.

    • Etymology 3

    Make way, move ahead'', most likely an alteration of ''force , but perhaps from , via notion of steady hammering at something. Originally nautical, in referrence to vessels.

    Verb

  • (often as forge ahead ) To move forward heavily and slowly (originally as a ship); to advance gradually but steadily; to proceed towards a goal in the face of resistance or difficulty.
    • The party of explorers forged through the thick underbrush.
    We decided to forge ahead with our plans even though our biggest underwriter backed out.
  • * De Quincey
    • And off she [a ship] forged without a shock.
  • (sometimes as forge ahead ) To advance, move or act with an abrupt increase in speed or energy.
    • With seconds left in the race, the runner forged into first place.
    Derived terms
    * forgery

    See also

    * fabricate * make up * blacksmith

    Anagrams

    * ----

    forage

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Fodder for animals, especially cattle and horses.
  • * 1819 , :
    • “The hermit was apparently somewhat moved to compassion by the anxiety as well as address which the stranger displayed in tending his horse; for, muttering something about provender left for the keeper's palfrey, he dragged out of a recess a bundle of forage , which he spread before the knight's charger.
    (Dryden)
  • An act or instance of foraging.
  • * Shakespeare
    • He [the lion] from forage will incline to play.
  • * Marshall
    • Mawhood completed his forage unmolested.
  • * 1860 September, “A Chapter on Rats”, in , volume 56, number 3, page 304:
    • ‘My dears,’ he discourses to them — how he licks his gums, long toothless, as he speaks of his forages into the well-stored cellars:
  • (obsolete) The demand for fodder etc by an army from the local population

    • Verb

    (forag)
  • To search for and gather food for animals, particularly cattle and horses.
  • * 1841 , , The Deerslayer , Chapter 8:
    • The message said that the party intended to hunt and forage through this region, for a month or two, afore it went back into the Canadas.
  • To rampage through, gathering and destroying as one goes.
  • * 1599 , , Henry V , Act 1, Scene 2:
    • And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince, / Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, / Making defeat on the full power of France, / Whiles his most mighty father on a hill / Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp / Forage in blood of French nobility.
  • To rummage.
  • * 1898 , , The Wrecker :
    • Using the blankets for a basket, we sent up the books, instruments, and clothes to swell our growing midden on the deck; and then Nares, going on hands and knees, began to forage underneath the bed.

    Derived terms

    * forager