Etymology 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.
1
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:
2
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:
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.
2 more examples
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. 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.2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
4
Archaic 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:
5
Archaic 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, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
Etymology 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.
1
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: