prowl
/praʊl
/verb [no object]
(Of a person or animal) move about restlessly and stealthily, especially in search of prey: lions prowling in the bush [with object]: youngsters were prowling the streets in droves...
- A nice patch of wild prairie, through which a Mega-Cat could prowl in search of prey had been replaced by a flat, featureless mud-plain.
- It brings out deeply hidden atavistic instincts buried deep within you and you begin to prowl in search of prey.
- A reduction caused by global warming in the massive sheets of Arctic sea ice that polar bears prowl for their prey could have devastating consequences for the world's largest land predator, a leading conservation group has warned.
Synonyms
move stealthily, slink, skulk, steal, nose, pussyfoot, sneak, sidle, stalk, creep;
roam, range, rove, cruise, hunt, scavenge
informal snoop
noun
An act of prowling: I met her once on one of my off-duty bookshop prowls...
- He sleeps curled up in dark corners and his movements consist largely of prowls and leaps.
- She very nearly made Edie feel inadequate by the sheer felinity of her movements, by the sensuous grace of her silent prowl, the lively flicks of her tail.
- While Rawlin and David, looking like mongrels back from a prowl, laugh and stare at us like we were some sort of surreal aliens.
Phrases
on the prowl
Origin
Late Middle English: of unknown origin.