Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PREY, v.i.

1. To prey on or upon, is to rob; to plunder; to pillage.
2. To feed by violence, or to seize and devour. The wolf preys on sheep; the hawk preys on chickens.
3. To corrode; to waste gradually; to cause to pine away. Grief preys on the body and spirits; envy and jealousy prey on the health. Language is too faint to show / His rage of love; It preys upon his life; / He pines, he sickens, he despairs, he dies. – Addison.