Advertisement
Advertisement
prey
[ prey ]
noun
- an animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal.
- 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: , ,
- the action or habit of preying:
a beast of prey.
- Archaic. booty or plunder.
verb (used without object)
- to seize and devour prey, as an animal does (usually followed by on or upon ):
Foxes prey on rabbits.
- to make raids or attacks for booty or plunder:
The Vikings preyed on coastal settlements.
- to exert a harmful or destructive influence:
His worries preyed upon his mind.
- to victimize another or others (usually followed by on or upon ):
loan sharks that prey upon poor people.
prey
/ ±è°ù±ðɪ /
noun
- an animal hunted or captured by another for food
- a person or thing that becomes the victim of a hostile person, influence, etc
- beast of preyan animal that preys on others for food
- bird of preya bird that preys on others for food
- an archaic word for booty 1
verb
- to hunt or seize food by killing other animals
- to make a victim (of others), as by profiting at their expense
- to exert a depressing or obsessive effect (on the mind, spirits, etc); weigh heavily (upon)
Derived Forms
- ˈ±è°ù±ð²â±ð°ù, noun
Other ˜yÐÄvlogs From
- ±è°ù±ð²âİù noun
- ³Ü²Ô·±è°ù±ð²âi²Ô²µ adjective
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of prey1
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of prey1
Idioms and Phrases
- 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
It is estimated that the bird of prey had swooped on at least 50 people since early March, drawing blood from several victims.
“But we must have the ability to communicate and share threats and removal of criminal offenders who prey upon our community, often within the immigrant communities in which they reside.â€
A deadly, drug-resistant fungus that preys on the sick and old is continuing to spread in hospitals and senior care facilities across the country, killing more than 1 in 3 infected.
The specimen also preserves the first keratinous sheath of a therizinosaur, an element that covers the claw much like human fingernails, aiding defence, movement, or prey catching.
One of Kurt Gray's key arguments is that humans evolved as a prey species with a profound orientation toward avoiding harm, which has become the basis for all our morality.
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse