Hypertext Webster Gateway: "predatory"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Predatory \Pred"a*to*ry\, a. [L. praedatorius, fr. praedari to
plunder, fr. praeda prey. See {Prey}.]
1. Characterized by plundering; practicing rapine;
plundering; pillaging; as, a predatory excursion; a
predatory party. ``A predatory war.'' --Macaulay.
2. Hungry; ravenous; as, predatory spirits. [Obs.]
Exercise . . . maketh the spirits more hot and
predatory. --Bacon.
3. (Zo["o]l.) Living by preying upon other animals;
carnivorous.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
predatory
adj 1: characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding;
"bands of marauding Indians"; "predatory warfare"; "a
raiding party" [syn: {marauding}, {raiding}]
2: living by preying on other animals especially by catching
living prey; "a predatory bird"; "the rapacious wolf";
"raptorial birds"; "ravening wolves"; "a vulturine taste
for offal" [syn: {rapacious}, {raptorial}, {ravening}, {vulturine},
{vulturous}]
3: living by or given to victimizing others for personal gain;
"predatory capitalists"; "a predatory, insensate society
in which innocence and decency can prove fatal"- Peter S.
Prescott; "a predacious kind of animal--the early
geological gangster"- W.E.Swinton [syn: {predaceous}, {predacious}]
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