Predate <prey upon>

Charles C Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Thu Jul 3 13:58:13 UTC 2014


Arnold had managed to predate predate!

--Charlie

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Poster:       Arnold Zwicky 
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On Jul 3, 2014, at 5:11 AM, W Brewer wrote:

> WB:  In describing the predators of the <Razorbill>, Wikip says:  << =
Arctic
> foxes can also **predate** significant numbers of adults, eggs, and =
chicks
> in some years.>>
>     That just don't sound right.

it sounds just fine; but maybe it doesn't *look* right to you.  but =
surely ADSL-ers can cope with homographs.

from NOAD2:

predate 1 |pr=C4=93=CB=88d=C4=81t|  verb [with obj.]   exist or occur at =
a date earlier than (something): this letter predates her illness.
predate 2 |pri=CB=88d=C4=81t|  verb [with obj.]   (of an animal) act as =
a predator of; catch and eat (prey). ORIGIN 1940s: back-formation from =
predation.
=20
arnold
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