beast of prey

beast of prey (plural beasts of prey)

1. A carnivorous animal that hunts for its food, especially one that preys on vertebrates.
2. (figuratively) A predatory person, savagely cruel and ruthless in their treatment of others.
   • 1973, Philippa Foot, “"Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values"”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, New York, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, Anchor Books, →ISBN, page 160:

     Much controversy has surrounded Nietzsche’s writings on the “higher” and “lower” types of man. Is he to be taken as glorifying the cruel tyrant, the “beast of prey”, or did he have some less repulsive ideal? The answer seems to be neither an unqualified yes nor an unqualified no.