preen

Etymology 1

From 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.

noun

1. A forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth.
2. (dialectal) 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; […] 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
3. (dialectal) bodkin; brooch

verb

1. (transitive) To pin; fasten.

Etymology 2

Variant of prune (by influence of preen above). Attested in Chaucer (c. 1395) in the variants preyneth, prayneth, proyneth, prunyht, pruneth, from Old French proignier (“to trim the feathers with the beak”).

verb

1. (of birds, transitive, intransitive) To groom; to trim or dress the feathers with the beak.
2. (of people, intransitive, reflexive) To 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. 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
3. (intransitive) To show off, posture, or smarm.
   His preening self-satisfaction, chest thrown forward as he settles into a chair in his mansion... 1993, Scott Simmon, The Films of D W Griffith
   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 studio musicians. 1998-04-07, Neil Strauss, “Robert Pilatus, 32, Performer In Disgraced Band Milli Vanilli”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
   He preened under her compliments. 2004, Jude Deveraux, Counterfeit Lady
   The crowning tragedy—or sick joke—is that those who have postured and preened the most ostentatiously about their devotion to the Constitution have been the most indifferent to its destruction. 2012, Mike Lofgren, The Party Is Over
   “Six look like dyin', and five dead,” preened the killer. 2016, Jeanne Williams, Daughter of the Sword
4. (transitive) To 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 household as an orderly place in whichc the marriage is consecrated not in the church but in the orderly procedures of domesticity ; in which obedience is required , not in order to preen the male pride of the father, but to restore order in a fallen world ' 1989, Graham Holderness, The Taming of the Shrew, page 112
   New York nurtured and preened the most sophisticated audiences in the nation. 1992, Philip H. Ennis, The Seventh Stream: The Emergence of Rocknroll in American Popular Music, page 39
   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 preened the estate agents and developers into new realms of ecstasy. 2010, Alexandra Bell, Rising to the Deadline
5. (transitive) To comb; to make orderly.
   My two roommates are engineers who preen the diesels. 2002, David G. Campbell, The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica
   Preen the deer hair rearward around the hook shank, and take 3 tight thread wraps to secure it. 2011, Jim Schollmeyer, Ted Leeson, Flies for Western Super Hatches, page 82
   Now Prossiden's finger was brandished, and preened the air in front of Onascam's face with florid implications. 2019, J.E. Franklin, Crouching at the Door
   He preened the registers, computer entries but of no avail. 2020, Rohit Pagare, After the Dark, page 124
6. (transitive) To trim up, as trees.
   Adjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose, he gently preened the bush with his pruners. 2007, J. P. De Sales, The Coming of the Reichchild, page 162
   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. 2013, Hannah Graham, Beneath the Perfect World
   I ignored him and looked around, wondering who preened the conical fir trees on each ledge of the building. 2018, J.S. Monroe, The Riot Act
7. (transitive, more generally) To 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 —” 2011, Brennan Pursell, The Spanish Match, page 26
   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. 2011, Dean MacCannell, The Ethics of Sightseeing, page 200
   He'd built a lodge and preened the country, and imported or otherwise attracted the game, and then found that no one came. 2015, Walter Jon Williams, The Rift
   A piece of human debris, usually plucked up and disposed of by the group of volunteers who pruned and preened the woods on a weekly basis. 2020, Carys Jones, The List