Definition of "preyant"

Lowe, [New Sarum, in Wiltshire] Gu. a wolf preyant ar. Crest, a wolf's head couped ar. collared or.

1780, Joseph Edmondson, A Complete Body of Heraldry

Culcheth of Culcheth: argent, an eagle disclosed, preyant on a child in a mantle gules, wattled or. This is the crest of Stanley, well known in Lancashire as the bird and bantling.

1880, Thomas Spencer Baynes, The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, page 700