prey
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prey/preɪ/
▶noun an animal hunted and killed by another for food.
■ a victim or quarry.
■ archaic plunder or (in biblical use) a prize.
▶verb (prey on/upon)- 1 hunt and kill for food.
- 2 exploit or injure.
■ cause constant distress to: the problem had begun to prey on my mind.
– derivatives
preyer noun.
preyer noun.
– origin ME: the noun from OFr. preie, from L. praeda ‘booty’, the verb from OFr. preier, based on L. praedari ‘seize as plunder’, from praeda.
'prey' also found in these Oxford entries:
accipiter
- anglerfish
- archerfish
- arrow worm
- bait
- bat-eared fox
- beast of prey
- bird of prey
- boa
- butcher-bird
- buzzard
- caracara
- check
- constrict
- constrictor
- crocodile tears
- cuttlefish
- darter
- death adder
- devour
- displayed
- eagle
- electric eel
- electric ray
- eyrie
- falcon
- falconer
- falconry
- fascinate
- feeding frenzy
- forage fish
- goose barnacle
- gummy shark
- harrier
- hawk
- honey buzzard
- hunt
- kite
- mantis
- mantle
- nematocyst
- osprey
- owl
- pellet
- piranha
- pit viper
- pounce
- prowl
- python
