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Scavenge vs Prey - What's the difference?

scavenge | prey |

As a verb scavenge

is to collect and remove refuse, or to search through refuse, carrion, or abandoned items for useful material.

As a noun prey is

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

scavenge

English

Verb

(en-verb)
  • to collect and remove refuse, or to search through refuse, carrion, or abandoned items for useful material
  • to remove unwanted material from something, especially to purify molten metal by removing impurities
  • to expel the exhaust gases from the cylinder of an internal combustion engine, and draw in air for the next cycle
  • to feed on carrion or refuse

    • Derived terms

    * scavenger * scavenge pump

    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

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    Anagrams

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