Prey

Prey - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

PREY, n. [L. proeda.]

1. 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. Num 31.

In this passage,the captives are distinguished from prey. But sometimes persons are included.

They [Judah] shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. 2 Ki 21.

2. 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.

3. 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, vultures, _c. rather than to insects; yet an insect feeding on other insects may be called an animal of prey.

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

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

2. 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.

pra (baz, Tereph, shalal): "Prey" is frequent in the Old Testament, chiefly as the translation of baz, "spoil," "plunder" (Nu 14:3,11; De 1:39; Isa 10:6, etc.); of Tereph, "prey of wild beasts," "torn thing" (Ge 49:9; Nu 23:24; Job 4:11, etc.); of malqoah, "a taking" (Nu 31:11, etc.; Isa 49:24,25); of shalal, "spoil" or "booty" (Jud 5:30 twice; Jud 8:24,25; Isa 10:2, etc.). Maher-shalal-chash-baz (the Revised Version margin "The spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth") was the symbolical name given to a son of Isaiah (Isa 8:1,3). "Prey" does not occur in the New Testament, but is found in the Apoc: 1 Esdras 8:77, "for our sins .... were given up .... for a prey" (pronome); Judith 9:4; 16:5; 1 Macc 7:47; Ecclesiasticus 27:10 (thera); Judith 5:24 (katabroma).

In the Revised Version (British and American) shalal is generally translated "spoil" (Jud 5:30; 8:24,25; Isa 10:2, etc.), while, conversely, "prey" (noun and verb) is occasionally substituted for "spoil," "booty" (Nu 31:32, ere).

See BOOTY; SPOIL.

W. L. Walker

Definition

The term “prey” refers to something that is hunted, usually an animal that is used for food.

• In a figurative sense, “prey” can refer to a person who is taken advantage of, abused, or oppressed by a more powerful person.
• To “prey on” people means to take advantage of them by oppressing them or stealing something from them.
• The term “prey” could also be translated as “hunted animal” or “hunted one” or “victim.”

(See also: oppress)

Bible References

• Jeremiah 12:9
• Psalms 104:21

Word Data

• Strong’s: H0400, H0957, H0962, H2963, H2964, H5706, H5861, H7997, H7998