prey

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French preie, one of the variants of proie, from Latin praeda

Pronunciation

• enPR: prā, IPA: /pɹeɪ/, SAMPA: /pr\eI/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: pray

Noun

prey (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder.
2. That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured; hence, a person given up as a victim.
3. A living thing that is eaten by another living thing.

   The rabbit was eaten by the coyote, so the rabbit is the coyote's prey.

Translations

booty

Croatian: plijȇn (hr) m. Czech: kořist (cs) f. Esperanto: predo (eo) Finnish: saalis (fi) German: Beute (de) f. Greek: λεία (el) (leía) f.

Russian: добыча (ru) (dobýcha) f.; трофеи (ru) (troféi) pl. Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f. Serbian: plen (sr) m. Spanish: botín (es) m. Swahili: windo (sw)

that which may be seized by animals

Arabic: فريسة (ar) (fariisa) f. Catalan: presa (ca) Croatian: plijȇn (hr) m. Dutch: prooi (nl) Esperanto: predo (eo) Finnish: saalis (fi) French: proie (fr) German: Beute (de) f. Greek: βορά (el) (vorá) f.

Italian: preda (it) Portuguese: presa (pt) f. Romanian: pradă (ro) Russian: добыча (ru) (dobých) f., еда (ru) (yedá) f. (food) Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f. Serbian: plen (sr) m. Spanish: presa (es) f. Swahili: windo (sw)

ravage

Croatian: plijȇn (hr) m. Czech: kořist (cs) f. Dutch: prooi (nl) German: Beute (de) f.

Greek: λεία (el) (leía) f. Russian: жертва (ru) f. Template:zhértva (victim), еда (ru) (yedá) f. (food) Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f. Swahili: windo (sw)

Verb

prey (third-person singular simple present preys, present participle preying, simple past and past participle preyed)

1. To victimize, hunt, attack or plunder.
2. To devour.
3. To exert harmful influence.

Derived terms

• prey on

References

• prey in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• pyre, rype