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w at defiance; a professional assassin or murderer. Safe from detection, seize the unwary prey. And stab, like bravoes, all who come this way. Churchill.

A bird of prey of the Hawk family, belonging to the genus Buteo and related genera.

A fly that preys on fruit.

The thing taken by force, surprise, or stratagem; a prize; prey.

A large, long-legged South American bird (Dicholophus cristatus) which preys upon snakes, etc. See Seriema.

Flesh-devouring; cruel; ravenous; bloody. [Obs.] This carnal cur Preys on the issue of his mother's body. Shak. Carnal knowledge, sexual intercourse; -- used especially of an unlawful act on the part of the man.

Of or pertaining to dead and putrefying carcasses; feeding on carrion. A prey for carrion kites. Shak. Carrion beetle (Zoöl.), any beetle that feeds habitually on dead animals; -- also called sexton beetle and burying beetle. There are many kinds, belonging mostly to the family Silphidæ. -- Carrion buzzard (Zoöl.), a…

The soft naked sheath at the base of the beak of birds of prey, parrots, and some other birds. See Beak.

can falcon (Melierax canorus or musicus). The male has the habit, remarkable in a bird of prey, of singing to his mate, while she is incubating.

European tarantula and the wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and their allies, which capture their prey by rapidly running and jumping. See Wolf spider.

The network spread by a spider to catch its prey.

A serpent that kills its prey by inclosing and crushing it with its folds; as, the boa constrictor.

ant. [Obs.] In all notable changes and revolutions the contendents have been still made a prey to the third party. L'Estrange.

To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair.

rrow; -- derived from the fiction of old travelers, that crocodiles shed tears over their prey.

o stoop low; to lie close to the ground with the logs bent, as an animal when waiting for prey, or in fear. Now crouch like a cur. Beau. & Fl.

eyes, and ten arms furnished with denticulated suckers, by means of which it secures its prey. The name is sometimes applied to dibranchiate cephalopods generally.

A glass of fishes having a suckerlike mouth, without jaws, as the lamprey; the Marsipobranchii.

rd of the genus Plotus; -- so called because it darts out its long, snakelike neck at its prey. See Snakebird.

; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. Goldsmith.