Free Translator Free Translator
Translators Dictionaries Courses Other
Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Prey   /preɪ/   Listen
noun
Prey  n.  
1.
Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder. "And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest."
2.
That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured; hence, a person given up as a victim. "The old lion perisheth for lack of prey." "Already sees herself the monster's prey."
3.
The act of devouring other creatures; ravage. "Hog in sloth, fox in stealth,... lion in prey."
Beast of prey, a carnivorous animal; one that feeds on the flesh of other animals.



verb
Prey  v. i.  (past & past part. preyed; pres. part. preying)  To take booty; to gather spoil; to ravage; to take food by violence. "More pity that the eagle should be mewed, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty."
To prey on or To prey upon.
(a)
To take prey from; to despoil; to pillage; to rob.
(b)
To seize as prey; to take for food by violence; to seize and devour.
(c)
To wear away gradually; to cause to waste or pine away; as, the trouble preyed upon his mind.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Prey" Quotes from Famous Books



... ten-foot thicknesses of ice splintering like broken glass; to pyramid, to spray the whole nether world with ice and snow and scattering rock; then to settle, a jumbled conglomerate mass of destructiveness, robbed of its prey. ...
— The White Desert • Courtney Ryley Cooper

... back as much as possible from the multitude,—for, were science to unveil her marvels too openly to semi-educated and vulgarly constituted minds, the result would be, first Atheism, next Republicanism, and finally Anarchy and Ruin. If these evils,—which like birds of prey continually hover about all great kingdoms,—are to be averted, we must, for the welfare of the country and people, hold fast to some stated form and outward observance ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli

... gentle madness has touched your Majesty's brain, else you would not so cruelly accuse me. You have so many weighty affairs to trouble you and to prey on your mind that ...
— The Touchstone of Fortune • Charles Major

... of the straining dog's collar, and there was a white flash of avenging brute force upon the man. Gordon saw only one leap of the dog before the man was down. A futile pistol shot rang out. Then came the snarl and growl of a fighting dog fastened upon his prey. ...
— 'Doc.' Gordon • Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman

... destroying a favourite old watch that had been his companion from boyhood, and gone with him to Greece. 'In a fit of vexation and rage, brought upon him by some of these humiliating embarrassments, to which he was now almost daily a prey, he furiously dashed this watch on the hearth, and ground it to pieces with the poker among ...
— Lady Byron Vindicated • Harriet Beecher Stowe


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Free-Translator.com