prey
/pɹeɪ/
prey noun: that which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
Noun
prey (countable and uncountable, plural preys)
- 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.1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- 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 […]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
- 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.2020 November 18, Howard Johnston, “The missing 'Lincs' and the sole survivor”, in Rail, page 58
- 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.
- 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 31:12
- The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.
- Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, […] lion in prey.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...
- The victim of a disease.
- He became the prey of dengue.
Verb
prey (third-person singular simple present preys, present participle preying, simple past and past participle preyed)
- 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 […]2001, Karen Harden McCracken, The Life History of a Texas Birdwatcher, page 278
prey meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
prey in Hindi
- prey, catch, kill
- शिकार śikār
prey in Tamil
- இரை
prey in Urdu
- prey; game, quarry
- نخچیر naxcīr
- prey, catch; victim
- شکار śikār
prey in Malayalam
- prey, food for animals
- ഇര ira
More languagesFewer languages
- prey in Kannada
- ಬೇಟೆ, ಶಿಕಾರಿ, ಎರೆ, ಈಡಾದವನು
- prey in Punjabi
- ਮਾਰ mār
- prey in Gujarati
- શિકાર śikār
- prey in Nepali
- सिकार sikār
- prey in Pashto
- ښکار x̌kār
- prey in Arabic
- فَرِيسَة farīsa, غَنِيمَة ḡanīma
- prey in Malay
- mangsa
- prey in Indonesian
- mangsa
- prey in Vietnamese
- mồi
- prey in Myanmar
- သားကောင် sa:kaung
Examples of prey in a sentence
- The old lion perisheth for lack of prey.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:2:
- Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it.2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
Synonyms of prey
Forms of prey
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | preys |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | preys |
| present participle | preying |
| past participle | preyed |
| past | preyed |
Origin of prey
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.
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). Doublet of prede.
Words formed from prey
Phrases with prey
Words that rhyme with prey
Questions about prey
- What does prey mean?
- Prey means that which is or may be seized by animals to be devoured.
- What is prey in Hindi?
- Prey in Hindi is शिकार (śikār). See Prey meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use prey in a sentence?
- The old lion perisheth for lack of prey.
- What part of speech is prey?
- Prey can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce prey?
- Prey is pronounced /pɹeɪ/.
- What is the plural of prey?
- The plural of prey is preys.
Words near prey in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prey (page history and authors); शिकार (Hindi) (page history and authors); prey (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); شکار (Urdu) (page history and authors); ഇര (Malayalam) (page history and authors); prey (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮਾਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); શિકાર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); सिकार (Nepali) (page history and authors); ښکار (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-prey.ogg.
Cite this entry: “prey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.