cfhttp makes HTTP calls from your ColdFusion server to an internet address of your choice. It is important to remember that it is the ColdFusion server that will be calling the URL, not the browser that is calling your ColdFusion page. Think of cfhttp as if you have proxy browser on your server that can send and receive information to any address on the internet. Imagine that this "virtual browser" on the server can save the information that it receives to a variable, so that it can be manipulated or passed to the user who has called your ColdFusion page.
There are many attributes that the cfhttp tag can take. The simplest cfhttp call can be done like this: