From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpreyprey1 /preɪ/ noun 1 [singular, uncountable]HBA an animal, bird etc that is hunted and eaten by another animal OPP predator a tiger stalking its prey2 → bird/beast of prey3 → be/fall prey to somebody/something4 → easy prey
Examples from the Corpus
prey• They become a prey to nameless and often unspoken fears.• Men prowled the motel like packs of wolves searching out easy prey.• It is hardly surprising that in such environments, adolescents fall prey to peer pressure.• These refugees fell prey to marauding gangs, even to troopers, or to one another.• The toothed whales have a set of teeth which they use to grasp large and quick-moving prey, mainly squid or fish.• Many birds of prey regurgitate pellets which contain the indigestible remains of their prey, including much of the bone.• Thirdly, the species composition of the prey animals may be characteristic of particular predator types.• Snakes sometimes caught their prey here by dropping from above.• Snakes track their prey by its scent.preyprey2 verb → prey on somebody/something→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
prey• Ron Hunt said police have a responsibility to let parents know where those who might prey on children live.• But his main preoccupation was with the unfinished Requiem, which had begun to prey on his mind.• Consequently, the larger creatures that prey on them, the raptors, are fleeing starvation too.• So, too, were the spiders that prey on them.• You never were, although the slum people were complaining that a monster was preying on them.From Longman Business Dictionarypreyprey1 /preɪ/ verb → prey on/upon somebody/something→ See Verb tablepreyprey2 noun [uncountable]1journalismFINANCE the TARGET COMPANY (=the company that another company wants to buy) in a takeoverMIN would prefer to be predator (=a company that buys another company) rather than prey, but it was outbid in its last attempt to buy a regional newspaper.2be/fall prey to something to be unable to avoid a harmful or difficult situationAfter opening higher, the OTC market fell prey to profit-taking.The once-soaring South Korean economy has fallen prey to steep wage increases and high inflation.Origin prey1 (1200-1300) Old French preie, from Latin praeda “something seized” 