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Forage vs Hay - What's the difference?

forage | hay |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between forage and hay

is that forage is (obsolete) the demand for fodder etc by an army from the local population while hay is (obsolete) a circular country dance.

As nouns the difference between forage and hay

is that forage is fodder for animals, especially cattle and horses while hay is (uncountable) grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder or hay can be the name of the letter for the h sound in pitman shorthand.

As verbs the difference between forage and hay

is that forage is to search for and gather food for animals, particularly cattle and horses while hay is to cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.

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

    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

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