prey

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: prā, IPA^(key): /pɹeɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: pray

Etymology 1

From Middle English preye, prei, preyȝe, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French preie, one of the variants of proie, from Latin praeda. Compare predator. Doublet of prede.

Noun

prey (countable and uncountable, plural preys)

1. That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Already sees herself the monster's prey.

2. A person or thing given up as a victim.
   • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

     [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]

   • 2020 November 18, Howard Johnston, “The missing 'Lincs' and the sole survivor”, in Rail, page 58:

     Being so inflexible, the railway was easy prey to road competition, and the arrival of unregulated lorry transport from farm fields to town centres quickly captured all locally generated business.

3. A living thing, usually an animal, that is eaten by another living thing.

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

   Stranded without any weapons, we made very easy prey.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:2:

     The old lion perisheth for lack of prey.

   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:

     Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

4. (archaic) Anything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war.

   Synonyms: spoil, booty, plunder

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 31:12:

     And they brought the captiues, and the pray, and the spoile vnto Moses and Eleazar the Priest, and vnto the Congregation of the children of Israel, vnto the campe at the plaines of Moab, which are by Iordan neere Iericho.

5. (archaic) The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, […] lion in prey.

6. The victim of a disease.

Derived terms

• beast of prey
• bird of prey
• easy prey
• fall prey
• prey drive
• prey eyes

 

Translations

booty, anything taken by force

Afrikaans: buit Arabic: غَنِيمَة f (ḡanīma) Aromanian: pradã f Belarusian: здабы́ча f (zdabýča), спажы́ва f (spažýva) Bulgarian: пля́чка (bg) f (pljáčka) Czech: kořist (cs) f Danish: bytte (da) n Dutch: buit (nl) m Esperanto: predo Estonian: saak (et) Finnish: saalis (fi) French: butin (fr) m, prise (fr) f Galician: prea (gl) f, presa (gl) f German: Beute (de) f Greek: λεία (el) f (leía) Ingrian: saakki Italian: preda (it) f Kyrgyz: олжо (ky) (oljo) Macedonian: плен m (plen) Maori: pārurenga, ori (of a disease) Neapolitan: preda Norwegian: Bokmål: bytte (no) n Polish: zdobycz (pl) f Portuguese: preia (pt) f, presa (pt) f Romanian: pradă (ro) Russian: добы́ча (ru) f (dobýča); трофе́и (ru) pl (troféi), пожи́ва (ru) f (požíva), приз (ru) m (priz) Scottish Gaelic: creach f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пле̑н m, плије̑н m Roman: plȇn (sh) m, plijȇn (sh) m Slovak: korisť f Slovene: plen (sl) m Spanish: botín (es) m Swahili: windo (sw) Swedish: byte (sv) n Ukrainian: здоби́ча f (zdobýča), добу́ток (uk) m (dobútok) Zazaki: seyd (diq)

that which may be seized by animals

Afrikaans: prooi Albanian: pre (sq) f Arabic: فَرِيسَة f (farīsa) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: здабы́ча f (zdabýča), спажы́ва f (spažýva) Bulgarian: пля́чка (bg) f (pljáčka) Catalan: presa (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 獵物／猎物 (zh) (lièwù) Danish: bytte (da) n Dutch: prooi (nl) Esperanto: predo Estonian: saak (et) Finnish: saalis (fi) French: proie (fr) Friulian: prede f Galician: presa (gl) f German: Beute (de) f Greek: βορά (el) f (vorá) Ancient: ἄγρα f (ágra), θήραμα n (thḗrama) Hebrew: טֶרֶף (he) m (téref) Icelandic: bráð (is) f Ingrian: saakki Irish: creach f Italian: preda (it) Japanese: 獲物 (ja) (えもの, emono) Korean: 먹이 (ko) (meogi) Norwegian: Bokmål: byttedyr n, bytte (no) n Nynorsk: byttedyr n Persian: طُعمِه (fa) (to'me) Plautdietsch: Wiltfank n Polish: żer (pl) m, zdobycz (pl) f, pastwa (pl) f Portuguese: presa (pt) f Romanian: pradă (ro) Russian: добы́ча (ru) f (dobýča), еда́ (ru) f (jedá) (food), пожи́ва (ru) f (požíva) Scottish Gaelic: creach f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пле̑н m, плије̑н m Roman: plȇn (sh) m, plijȇn (sh) m Spanish: presa (es) f Swahili: windo (sw) Swedish: byte (sv) Ukrainian: здоби́ча f (zdobýča), здо́бич f (zdóbyč), до́бич f (dóbyč), спожи́ва f (spožýva), пожи́ва f (požýva) Vietnamese: mồi (vi)

ravage

Afrikaans: prooi Czech: kořist (cs) f Dutch: prooi (nl) German: Beute (de) f Greek: λεία (el) f (leía) Italian: squartamento m Portuguese: predação f Romanian: sacrificiu (ro) Russian: же́ртва (ru) f (žértva) (victim), еда́ (ru) f (jedá) (food) Scottish Gaelic: creach f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пле̑н m, плије̑н m Roman: plȇn (sh) m, plijȇn (sh) m

victim of a disease

Bulgarian: же́ртва (bg) f (žértva) Czech: oběť (cs) f Maori: ori

Etymology 2

From Middle English praien, prayen, preyen, partly from the noun and partly from Old French praer, preer, earlier preder, from Late Latin praedō, collateral form of Latin praedor, from praeda (“plunder, booty, loot”) + -ō (verbal suffix).^[1][2] Doublet of prede.

Verb

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

1. (intransitive) To act as a predator.
   • 2001, Karen Harden McCracken, The Life History of a Texas Birdwatcher, page 278:

     The ridge had been a haven for birds and small earth creatures, creeping, crawling, and hopping in a little world of balanced ecology where wild things preyed and were preyed upon […]

Related terms

• prey on, prey upon, predate

Translations

act as a predator

German: lauern (de), auflauern (de)

References

• “prey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

1. “prey, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
2. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “prey (v.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• pyre, rype