foray

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A sudden raid or military advance.
• noun A venture or an initial attempt, especially outside one's usual area.
• intransitive verb To make a raid.
• intransitive verb To make inroads, as for profit or adventure.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of foraging; a predatory excursion.
• noun Synonyms Incursion, Raid, etc. See invasion.
• To ravage; pillage.
• To engage in a foray; pillage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid.
• transitive verb To pillage; to ravage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid.
• noun A brief excursion or attempt especially outside one's accustomed sphere.
• verb transitive To scour (an area or place) for food, treasure, booty etc.
• verb intransitive To pillage; to ravage.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an initial attempt (especially outside your usual areas of competence)
• noun a sudden short attack
• verb briefly enter enemy territory
• verb steal goods; take as spoils