provender

noun

1. (dated, uncountable, usually)Food, especially for livestock.

   “The farm which supplied to him ungrudging provender had all his vast capacity for work in willing exercise …”

   “He ripp'd the womb up of his mother, / Dame Tellus, 'cause he wanted fother, / And provender, wherewith to feed / Himself and his less cruel steed.”

   “Irregular, sporadic feeding and strange provender were beginning to take their toll, and I felt queasy at the thought of 'various curries' the Amat's clerk had promised for the first meal of the day.”

   “(...) hobbits were easy-going with their children in the matter of sitting up late, especially when there was a chance of getting them a free meal. Bringing up young hobbits took a lot of provender.”

verb

1. (transitive)To feed.

   “One night, after several days of continuous plowing, and after the ox and mule had been stabled and provendered for the night, the ox said to the mule […]”