fodder
Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay,…Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
» The soldiers were regarded as cannon fodder.
Die Soldaten wurden als Kanonenfutter betrachtet.
Солдат считали пушечным мясом.
Солдатів вважали гарматним м'ясом.
Meaning
6 senses(countable, uncountable)Food for animals; that which is fed to cattle, horses, and sheep, such as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
Futter, Viehfutter
кормkorm, фура́жfuráž
кормkorm, фура́жfuráž, па́шаpáša
(countable, historical, uncountable)A load: various English units of weight or volume based upon standardized cartloads of certain commodities, generally around 1000 kg.
(countable, slang, uncountable)Tracing paper.
(countable, figuratively, uncountable)Stuff; material; something that serves as inspiration or encouragement, especially for satire or humour.
(countable, uncountable)The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue.
(countable, uncountable)People considered to have negligible value and easily available or expendable.
Innocent people who are arrested become fodder for the justice system.
cannon fodder
- coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop
- soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire
Examples
14 sentencesThe soldiers were regarded as cannon fodder.
Солдатів вважали гарматним м'ясом.
ruСолдат считали пушечным мясом.
deDie Soldaten wurden als Kanonenfutter betrachtet.
His behavior provides fodder for comments.
Children were used as cannon fodder.
ruДетей использовали как пушечное мясо.
Children were used for cannon fodder.
ruДетей использовали как пушечное мясо.
The children were used as cannon fodder.
ruДетей использовали как пушечное мясо.
deDie Kinder wurden als Kanonenfutter benutzt.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English fodder, foder, from Old English fōdor (“feed; fodder”), from Proto-WesFrom Middle English fodder, foder, from Old English fōdor (“feed; fodder”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą, from *fōdô (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: foddersSynonyms
5 synonyms- soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire:cannon fodderfresh fish
Word family
10 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable