1. To feed by violence, or to seize and devour. The wolf preys on sheep; the hawk preys on chickens.

2. 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.