foray
Plural: forays
Noun
- a sudden short attack
- an initial attempt (especially outside your usual areas of competence)
- "scientists' forays into politics"
- 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.
Verb
Verb Forms: forayed, foraying, forays
- To make a sudden attack or incursion; to raid.
- steal goods; take as spoils
- briefly enter enemy territory
- To participate in a foray.
- To do or attempt something outside one's typical area of expertise.
- To scour an area for goods as part of a foray.
Examples
- He decided to foray into the less-used Q tiles, hoping to find a high-scoring word.
Origin / 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.
Scrabble Score: 11
foray: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordforay: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
foray: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary