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Prey vs Kill - What's the difference?

prey | kill | Synonyms |

Prey is a synonym of kill.


As nouns the difference between prey and kill

is that prey is (archaic) anything, as goods, etc, taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder while kill is the act of killing or kill can be a creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea or kill can be a kiln.

As a verb kill is

to put to death; to extinguish the life of.

prey

English

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.

    • Related terms

    * prey on

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    kill

    English

    (wikipedia kill)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) killen, kyllen, , (etyl) kellen.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To put to death; to extinguish the life of.
    • Smoking kills more people each year than alcohol and drugs combined.
    There is conclusive evidence that smoking kills .
  • (fiction) To invent a story that conveys the death of (a character).
    • Shakespeare killed Romeo and Juliet for drama.
  • To render inoperative.
    • He killed the engine and turned off the headlights, but remained in the car, waiting.
    (1978):
  • :: Peter : Ask Childers if it was worth his arm.
  • :: Policeman : What did you do to his arm, Peter?
  • :: Peter''': I '''killed it, with a machine gun.
  • (figuratively) To stop, cease or render void; to terminate.
    • The editor decided to kill the story.
    The news that a hurricane had destroyed our beach house killed our plans to sell it.
    My computer wouldn't respond until I killed some of the running processes.
  • (transitive, figuratively, hyperbole) To amaze, exceed, stun or otherwise incapacitate.
    • That night, she was dressed to kill .
    That joke always kills me.
  • (figuratively) To produce feelings of dissatisfaction or revulsion in.
    • It kills me to throw out three whole turkeys, but I can't get anyone to take them and they've already started to go bad.
    It kills me to learn how many poor people are practically starving in this country while rich moguls spend such outrageous amounts on useless luxuries.
  • To use up or to waste.
    • I'm just doing this to kill time.
    He told the bartender, pointing at the bottle of scotch he planned to consume, "Leave it, I'm going to kill the bottle."
  • (transitive, figuratively, informal) To exert an overwhelming effect on.
    • Between the two of us, we killed the rest of the case of beer.
    Look at the amount of destruction to the enemy base. We pretty much killed their ability to retaliate anymore.
  • (transitive, figuratively, hyperbole) To overpower, overwhelm or defeat.
    • The team had absolutely killed their traditional rivals, and the local sports bars were raucous with celebrations.
  • To force a company out of business.
  • (informal) To produce intense pain.
    • You don't ever want to get rabies. The doctor will have to give you multiple shots and they really kill .
  • (figuratively, informal, hyperbole) To punish severely.
    • My parents are going to kill me!
  • (sports) To strike a ball or similar object with such force and placement as to make a shot that is impossible to defend against, usually winning a point.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=February 4 , author=Gareth Roberts , title=Wales 19-26 England , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=That close call encouraged Wales to launch another series of attacks that ended when lock Louis Deacon killed the ball illegally in the shadow of England's posts.}}
  • (mathematics, transitive, idiomatic, informal) To cause to assume the value zero.
  • (computing, Internet, IRC) To disconnect (a user) forcibly from the network.
    • Synonyms
    * (to put to death) assassinate, bump off, ice, knock off, liquidate, murder, rub out, slaughter, slay, top, whack * (to use up or waste) fritter away, while away * (to render inoperative) break, deactivate, disable, turn off * (to exert an overwhelming effect on) annihilate (informal) * See also

    Related terms

    * instakill * killer * killing * killjoy * kill off * kill-time

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of killing.
    • The assassin liked to make a clean kill , and thus favored small arms over explosives.
  • Specifically, the death blow.
    • The hunter delivered the kill with a pistol shot to the head.
  • The result of killing; that which has been killed.
    • The fox dragged its kill back to its den.
  • (volleyball) The grounding of the ball on the opponent's court, winning the rally.
  • * 2011 , the 34th Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame'', in 's ''Campus Magazine , Spring/Summer 2011, page 21:
    • As a senior in 1993, Turner had a kill' percentage of 40.8, which was a school record at the time and the best in the SAC. Turner concluded her volleyball career with 1,349 ' kills , ranking fifth all-time at Catawba.
    Derived terms
    * in for the kill * thrill kill

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A creek; a body of water; a channel or arm of the sea.
    • The channel between Staten Island and Bergen Neck is the Kill''' van Kull, or the '''Kills .
    Schuylkill''', Cats'''kill , etc.

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A kiln.
    • (Fuller)
    1000 English basic words ----