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foray

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foray

  • /ˈfɒɹ.eɪ/ UK
  • /ˈfɔɹ.eɪ/ US
  • /ˈfɑɹ.eɪ/ New York City, Philadelphia
  • /ˈfɔɹ.æɪ/ Australia

Rhymes with -ɒɹeɪ

Where it comes from

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.

noun forays · forrey

  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. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Muller were among many who should have added the third, and City were limited to rare forays with the excellent Boateng pinching the ball off Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov shooting wide in stoppage time.

verb forays · foraying · forayed · forrey

  1. To participate in a foray. The people of Granada resumed all at once their ancient activity, foraying into the Christian territories, surprising Alhendin and some other places of less importance, and stirring up the spirit of revolt in Guadix and other conquered cities.
  2. To do or attempt something outside one's typical area of expertise. "It seems as though I have lived this life always. The world of books and bookish folk is very vague, more like a dream memory than an actuality. I surely have hunted and forayed and fought all the days of my life. And you, too, seem a part of it. You are -- " I was on the verge of saying, "my woman
  3. archaic, transitive To scour an area for goods as part of a foray. He bad to open wyde his brazen gate, Which long time had bene shut, and out of hond Proclaymed joy and peace through all his state; For dead now was their foe which them forrayed late.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: raid, ransack, pillage, plunder, maraud, reave, despoil, rifle, strip, loot, inroad, incursion, sweep, infall, escapade, venture

Translations

Every language

noun incursion

Españolincursión
Portuguêsincursão, investida, aposta
Françaisincursion
Deutschplötzlicher Überfall, überraschender Überfall
Italianoincursione, scorrazzata, scorreria, irruzione
Românăincursiune, raid
Русскийнабе́г nabég, нападе́ние napadénije
العربيةغَزْو ḡazw

noun brief excursion or attempt

Deutschkurzer Ausfall, Streifzug
Русскийвы́лазка výlazka, попы́тка popýtka

verb To pillage; to ravage

Françaisfourrager
Italianoscorrazzare, irrompere, razziare

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MLA

"foray." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/foray. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

foray. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/foray

Chicago

"foray." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/foray.

BibTeX
@misc{foray_2026,
  title = {foray},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/foray},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}