Spoil; booty; plunder; goods taken by force from an enemy in war. And they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses and Eleazar the priest. Numbers 31:12. In this passage, the captives are distinguished from prey. But sometimes persons are included. They shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. Kings 21:14.

That which is seized or may be seized by violence to be devoured; ravine. The eagle and the hawk dart upon their prey. She sees herself the monster's prey. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. Job 4:17.

Ravage; depredation. Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, lion in prey. Animal or beast of prey, is a carnivorous animal; one that feeds on the flesh of other animals. The word is applied to the larger animals, as lions, tigers, hawks, vulturesrather than to insects; yet an insect feeding on other insects may be called an animal of prey.

To prey on or upon, is to rob; to plunder; to pillage.

To feed by violence, or to seize and devour. The wolf preys on sheep; the hawk preys on chickens.

To corrode; to waste gradually; to cause to pine away. Grief preys on the body and spirits; envy and jealousy prey on the health. Language is too faint to show . His rage of love; it preys upon his life; . He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies.