Noun

(archaic) Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder.

* Bible, Numbers xxxi. 12

And they brought the captives, and the prey , and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest.

That which is or may be seized by animals or birds to be devoured; hence, a person given up as a victim.

* Dryden

Already sees herself the monster's prey .

* Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

[The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk

A living thing that is eaten by another living thing.

* Bible, Job iv. ii

The old lion perisheth for lack of prey .

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner

, title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

The act of devouring other creatures; ravage.

* Shakespeare

Hog in sloth, fox in stealth, lion in prey .

The victim of a disease.

Noun

(en-noun)

(uncountable) Any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
  Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}

(countable) A foodstuff.

(uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.

Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.

* (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Shakespeare)

This may prove food to my displeasure.

* (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Wordsworth)

In this moment there is life and food / For future years.