Definition

1. Noun:

   • Coarse food for livestock: Plant material, such as dried hay, straw, or entire cereal plants, that is used to feed domesticated animals like cattle and horses.
   • A readily available resource or material for a particular purpose: Used figuratively to describe people or things that are treated as a disposable or inexhaustible supply for a system, often in a negative context.

2. Verb:

   • To give fodder to animals: To provide domesticated animals with coarse feed.

Usage Examples

• Noun (literal meaning):

  • The farmer stored the winter fodder in the barn.
  • Alfalfa is a common type of fodder for dairy cows.

• Noun (figurative meaning):

  • The scandal provided endless fodder for the newspapers.
  • Young recruits were seen as mere cannon fodder in the war.

• Verb:

  • Remember to fodder the horses before sunset.

Advanced Usage

• "Cannon fodder": A critical idiom referring to soldiers regarded as expendable in battle.

  • The general was accused of treating his men as nothing but cannon fodder.

• "Fodder for thought": A play on the phrase "food for thought," meaning material that provokes thinking or discussion.

  • The controversial study provided ample fodder for thought among scientists.

Variants and Related Words

• Forage (n/v): Food for animals, especially taken by browsing or grazing; the act of searching for food.
  • The deer searched for forage under the snow.

Synonyms

• Feed (n): Food for animals.
• Provender (n): Dry food for livestock.
• Hay (n): Grass that has been mown and dried for use as fodder.

Related Phrases

• Fodder crop: A crop grown specifically to be harvested as feed for animals.
  • Corn is often planted as a fodder crop.

Noun

1. coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop
2. soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire

Verb

1. give fodder (to domesticated animals)