beast of prey vs brute

beast of prey

noun
  • A predatory person, savagely cruel and ruthless in their treatment of others. 

  • A carnivorous animal that hunts for its food, especially one that preys on vertebrates. 

brute

noun
  • A person with the characteristics of an unthinking animal; a coarse or brutal person. 

  • A kind of powerful spotlight. 

adj
  • Without reason or intelligence (of animals). 

  • Characteristic of unthinking animals; senseless, unreasoning (of humans). 

  • Brutal; cruel; fierce; ferocious; savage; pitiless. 

  • Unconnected with intelligence or thought; purely material, senseless. 

  • Crude, unpolished. 

  • Strong, blunt, and spontaneous. 

verb
  • To shape (diamonds) by grinding them against each other. 

How often have the words beast of prey and brute occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )