predation

noun — 2 senses

predation

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Latin praedātiō, praedātiōnis, from praedor (“pillage, plunder”), from praeda (“plunder, spoils”).

1

Biology, Natural sciences, Zoology The preying of one animal on others.

2

Obsolete The action of attacking or plundering.

  • […]this priest roade in his goune of velvet, with a greate trayne, and was received into every Religion with Procession, as though the legate had bene there, and toke such greate sommes for his visitacion, that the religious sore were greved, and murmured much against it, and in especiall, for they were charged with greate sommes of money to the kyng, and now thys sodayn visitacion or predacion, cleane shaved them.a. 1547, Edward Hall, “The XVII Yere”, in King Henry the VIII, volume II, London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, published 1904, page 48:
Derived terms
antipredation, hyperpredation, indirect predation, kleptopredation, macropredation, micropredation, secondary predation
Related terms
predator, depredation, prey, predate

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.