Talk:Spotted flycatcher
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predate vs depredate
[edit]Golden Oriole (talk · contribs) changed "predate" to "depredate" with the comment: To predate' means to occur before; the verb relating to predation is 'to depredate'
According to the Oxford English Dictionary "predate". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) "predate" has two meanings:
- 1.To give or assign a date to (a document, an event, etc.) earlier than the actual or currently accepted one; to set back in time
- 2.To act as a predator of; to catch and eat (prey). Chiefly in pass.
The OED gives these examples
- 1941 [implied in: Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 46 491 Every predated organism fights to prevent its being gobbled up by the predator. (at predated adj.)].
- 1956 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 145 313 Many larvae..were heavily predated by cuckoos.
- 1977 New Scientist 27 Oct. 220/3 The eggs of many species of frogs are predated by many species of vertebrates and invertebrates.
- 1994 Nature Conservancy May 18/2 People, who scare turtles, also bring litter, which..also brings more raccoons to predate nests.
- 2002 J. Cohen & I. Stewart Evolving Alien vii. 154 These could then be grazed by specialised protozoa (ciliates like Paramecium..), which were then predated by larger organisms.