n.
The dried stalks and leaves of a cereal crop, used as fodder after the grain has been harvested.
[Middle English, provisions, from Norman French estovers, from Old French estovier, to be necessary, from Latin est opus, it is necessary : est, third person sing. present tense of esse, to be; see essence + opus, need, work; see opus.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
