prey

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)That which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.

   “The deer became prey to the lion.”

   “Already sees herself the monster's prey.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A person or thing given up as a victim.

   “[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 […]”

   “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. (countable, uncountable)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.”

   “The old lion perisheth for lack of prey.”

   “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, countable, uncountable)Anything, such as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; something taken by force from an enemy in war.

   “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, countable, uncountable)The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.

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

6. (countable, uncountable)The victim of a disease.

   “He became the prey of dengue.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To act as a predator.

   “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 […]”