Noun

(en noun)

A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.

A goal or objective.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.

A kind of small shield or buckler, used as a defensive weapon in war.

* 1598 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part I, Act II, Scene IV, line 200,

These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target , thus.

(obsolete) A shield resembling the Roman scutum. In modern usage, a smaller variety of shield is usually implied by this term.

* 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 22,

The target or buckler was carried by the heavy armed foot, it answered to the scutum of the Romans; its form was sometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had its bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in its breadth.

(sports) The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.

(surveying) The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.

(rail transport) A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.

(cricket) the number of runs that the side batting last needs to score in the final innings in order to win

(linguistics) The tenor of a metaphor.

(translation studies) The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.

A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.}}

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.