prey

[prey]

noun

1. an animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal.

2. a person or thing that is the victim of an enemy, a swindler, a disease, etc.

   a con man looking for his next prey.

   Synonyms: mark, gull, dupe

3. the action or habit of preying.

   a beast of prey.

4. Archaic.,  booty or plunder.

verb (used without object)

1. to seize and devour prey, as an animal does (usually followed by on orupon ).

   Foxes prey on rabbits.

2. to make raids or attacks for booty or plunder.

   The Vikings preyed on coastal settlements.

3. to exert a harmful or destructive influence.

   His worries preyed upon his mind.

4. to victimize another or others (usually followed by on orupon ).

   loan sharks that prey upon poor people.

prey

/ preɪ /

noun

1. an animal hunted or captured by another for food

2. a person or thing that becomes the victim of a hostile person, influence, etc

3. an animal that preys on others for food

4. a bird that preys on others for food

5. an archaic word for booty 1

verb

1. to hunt or seize food by killing other animals

2. to make a victim (of others), as by profiting at their expense

3. to exert a depressing or obsessive effect (on the mind, spirits, etc); weigh heavily (upon)

Other Word Forms

• preyer noun
• unpreying adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prey¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English prei(e), preye, “booty, plunder, prey,” from Old French proie, praie, preie, from Latin praeda; akin to prehendere to grasp, seize; prehension

Word History and Origins

Origin of prey¹

C13: from Old French preie, from Latin praeda booty; see _predatory

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. fall prey (to), to be victimized, harmed, or killed: fall prey to internet scams.

   chickens that fell prey to a hawk;

   fall prey to internet scams.

Example Sentences

“I know that nature’s pretty rough, but not like men. You see pictures of lions taking down their prey and you see the face of the prey and you say: ‘Oh, man.’

Read more on Los Angeles Times

You wouldn’t be the only one who has fallen prey to this phenomenon.

Read more on MarketWatch

They are merely caught in a vulnerable moment or or preyed upon for their financial anxieties.

Read more on MarketWatch

After centuries of silence, vampires reappeared at the other end of the Silk Road, in the eastern Roman Empire, in accounts of dead women who preyed upon the living.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that the insects in Northern Ireland "haven't got the same defences that the natural prey for this hornet would have in southeast Asia".

Read more on BBC