/pɹiːn/
OriginFrom Middle English pren, from Old English prēon, from Proto-Germanic *preunaz (compare Icelandic prjónn (“pin, knitting-needle”), Danish pryne (“needle, eel-spear”)), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *brewn- (“protrusion, tip, edge”) (compare Lithuanian briaunà (“edge”), Albanian brez (“belt, girdle”)). Cognate with German Pfriem.
The verb is from Middle English prenen, from pren (“a preen”), akin to German pfriemen.
- A forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth.
- dialectalA pin.
“She never seemed to want for siller; the house was as bright as a new preen, the yaird better delved than the manse garden; […]”
- dialectalA bodkin; brooch.
- transitiveTo pin; fasten.
- ambitransitiveTo groom; to trim or dress the feathers with the beak.
- intransitive, reflexiveTo spend time making oneself attractive and admiring one's appearance, e.g. in front of a mirror.
“Mr Kernan halted and preened himself before the sloping mirror of Peter Kennedy, hairdresser. Stylish coat, beyond a doubt. Scott of Dawson street. Well worth the half sovereign I gave Neary for it.”
- intransitiveTo show off, posture, or smarm.
“His preening self-satisfaction, chest thrown forward as he settles into a chair in his mansion...”
“Impressed by their looks and their dancing, but not their singing, Mr. Farian called them Milli Vanilli and recorded an album of lightweight, preening dance-pop under their name, using uncredited stud”
“He preened under her compliments.”
- transitiveTo flatter.
“In Miller's view the play is expressive of a peculiarly Renaissance vision of the harmonious marriage within the orderly society: 'its spirit derives from Elizabethan Puritanism's view of the househol”
“New York nurtured and preened the most sophisticated audiences in the nation.”
“Sorcha, who had quickly learned about the cynicism that's deeply engrained in the newspaper business, wrote up the whole development in the most glowing terms, with phrase after phrase of praise that ”
- transitiveTo comb; to make orderly.
“My two roommates are engineers who preen the diesels.”
“Preen the deer hair rearward around the hook shank, and take 3 tight thread wraps to secure it.”
“Now Prossiden's finger was brandished, and preened the air in front of Onascam's face with florid implications.”
- transitiveTo trim up, as trees.
“Adjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose, he gently preened the bush with his pruners.”
“He'd imagined he could see the whole world from there, whilst the people below tended to their window boxes and preened the rose bushes, making this idyllic village pretty for the tourists.”
“I ignored him and looked around, wondering who preened the conical fir trees on each ledge of the building.”
- broadly, transitiveTo improve the appearance of; groom; prettify.
“He brushed and preened the marquis, front and back. “Lucky we are, Your Grace, no gashes that I see. But the beard is in a woeful state —””
“Clearly this is not heritage tourism development. Instead it recommends how to preen the city for the uncritical gaze of a kind of tourist who willingly accepts low-grade commercialized leisure.”
“He'd built a lodge and preened the country, and imported or otherwise attracted the game, and then found that no one came.”
Formspreens(plural) · prin(alternative, dialectal) · preens(present, singular, third-person) · preening(participle, present) · preened(participle, past) · preened(past)