| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| prey |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  pr |
| NOUN: | 1. An animal hunted or caught for food; quarry. 2. One that is defenseless, especially in the face of attack; a victim. 3. The act or practice of preying. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: preyed, prey·ing, preys
1. To hunt, catch, or eat as prey: Owls prey on mice. 2. To victimize or make a profit at someone else's expense. 3. To plunder or pillage. 4. To exert a baneful or injurious effect: Remorse preyed on his mind. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English preie, from Old French, from Latin praeda, booty, prey. See ghend- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | prey er —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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