prey
part of speech
noun (prey, uncountable; a prey — rare); verb (prey on, preys, preyed, preying)
meaning for a pupil
1) Prey is an animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal. tree →
2) To prey on means to hunt and eat other animals. tree →
3) Prey on can also mean to cheat or hurt people who are weak or easy to trick, like scammers do. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science food chains, the predator hunts the prey: in fox → rabbit, the rabbit is the prey. Many prey animals have eyes on the sides of the head to see danger and use camouflage to hide. In safety: scammers and bullies prey on people who are trusting. Phrases: bird of prey, fall prey to, predator and prey.
examples
- The rabbit is prey for the fox. tree →
- Eagles are birds of prey. tree →
- Lions creep up on their prey. tree →
- Spiders trap their prey in webs. tree →
- Prey animals often live in large groups for safety. tree →
- Owls prey on mice. tree →
- Scammers prey on older people. tree →
- The zebra became prey for the crocodile. tree →
- It is coming for its prey! tree →
note
Homophone: pray (to talk to God). Prey is usually uncountable: «a lot of prey», not «a lot of preys». An animal can be both predator and prey: a frog eats insects and is eaten by snakes.
In the corpora
- In the death roll a crocodile spins in the water to tear chunks off its prey, because it can't chew.
- Pit vipers such as rattlesnakes have heat-sensing pits on their faces that find warm-blooded prey in total darkness.
- A frog swallows prey whole and pulls its eyeballs down into its head to help push the food down its throat.
- Birds of prey, also called raptors, hunt other animals with sharp eyes, hooked beaks and gripping feet with curved talons.
- Harris's hawks hunt in family groups, which is rare for birds of prey, and they are often trained by falconers.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «prey» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.