for·est / ˈfôrəst; ˈfär-/ • n. a large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth: a pine forest | much of Europe was covered with forest. ∎  a large number or dense mass of vertical or tangled objects: a forest of connecting wires. ∎  hist. (in England) an area, typically owned by the sovereign and partly wooded, kept for hunting and having its own laws.• v. [tr.] [usu. as adj.] (forested) cover (land) with forest; plant with trees: a forested area.PHRASES: cannot see the forest for the trees fail to grasp the main issue because of overattention to details.DERIVATIVES: for·est·a·tion / ˌfôrəˈstāshən; ˌfär-/ n.ORIGIN: Middle English (in the sense ‘wooded area kept for hunting,’ also denoting any uncultivated land): via Old French from late Latin forestis (silva), literally ‘(wood) outside,’ from Latin foris ‘outside’ (see foreign).

forest An area of vegetation in which the dominant plants are trees; forests constitute major biomes. Temperate forests have adequate or abundant rainfall and moderate temperatures. They may be dominated by deciduous trees (such as oak, ash, elm, beech, or maple), often growing together to form mixed deciduous forest, as in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and North America; or by broad-leaved evergreens (such as southern beech, Nothofagus), as in Chile. Cold forests, of northern regions, are dominated by evergreen conifers (see taiga). Tropical forests include rainforest, characterized by regular heavy rainfall; monsoon forest, found in SE Asia and having heavy rainfall interspersed with periods of drought; and thorn forest, as in SW North America, SW Africa, and parts of Central and South America and Australia, which has sparse rainfall, is dominated by small thorny trees, and grades into savanna woodland (see grassland) and semidesert.

forest
1. A plant formation that is composed of trees the crowns of which touch, so forming a continuous canopy (compare woodland), or the trees that make up a forested area.

2. In Britain, from Norman times, a district reserved for the hunting of deer, often belonging to the sovereign, to which special laws applied and which was administered by special officers. The word ‘forest’ is derived from the Latin foris, ‘out of doors’: the land lay beyond those areas enclosed for agriculture or parkland and was unfenced. The land set aside as forest was not necessarily tree-covered, especially in the uplands, and might include open heathland, grassland, and bog, as well as wooded areas. Most of the land formerly under forest law has been disafforested (see deforestation), although a district may still bear the ‘forest’ designation (e.g. ‘Dartmoor Forest’). Some Crown forests, never disafforested, came to be used for growing timber, especially for ship-building, and today they are managed by the Forestry Commission (e.g. New Forest, Forest of Dean).

3. To plant with trees.

forest
1. A plant formation that is composed of trees the crowns of which touch, so forming a continuous canopy (compare WOODLAND).

2. A collective noun describing the trees that comprise an area of forested land.

3. In Britain, from Norman times, a district reserved for the hunting of deer, often belonging to the sovereign, to which special laws applied and which was administered by special officers. The word ‘forest’ is derived from the Latin foris, ‘out of doors’: the land lay beyond those enclosed for agriculture or parkland, and was unfenced. The land set aside as forest was not necessarily tree-covered, especially in the uplands, and might include open heath, grass, and bog, as well as wooded areas. Most of the land formerly under forest law has been disafforested, although a district may still bear the ‘forest’ designation, e.g. ‘Dartmoor Forest’. Some Crown forests, never disafforested, came to be used for growing timber, especially for ship-building, and today are managed by the Forestry Commission, e.g. New Forest, Forest of Dean.

4. To plant with trees.

forest XIII. — OF. forest (mod. forêt) — late L. forestis (silva) ‘outside wood’, royal forest reserved for hunting, obscurely f. forīs out of doors, outside (see FOREIGN); prob. meaning orig. woodland lying outside the park and unfenced; in AL. foresta, forestum (XI).
So forester XIII.