to preen
1
6.9
- verb
- /priːn/
- Specialized
:
acicalarse
- The California condors that Farry and his colleagues were monitoring had awakened from their nightly rest, preened a bit, and then launched themselves into the air, just as they had done countless times since their release to the wild.
- preened her feathers
- birds preen
Examples
-
A yellow butterfly landed on his knee and preened itself.
Fiction book (1993) -
A sculpted life-sized black swan preened itself on the white tiles of the hearth.
Fiction book (1999) -
As if on cue, first one, and then another, slowly start to preen, shifting from leg to leg.
Academic text (1994) -
Extremely clean mantises preen themselves throughout the day and after every meal.
Academic text (1998) -
Crowing hens just love to preen.
Fiction book (1993) -
And he preened his gorgeous plumage, all red, white, and gold.
Fiction book (1992) -
The dragon arched his neck and preened.
Fiction book (2001) -
Her red-gold gaze met mine; she held still for a moment, then roused and began to preen.
Fiction book (1993) -
In a magnificent, full-body shake, it threw off sprays of excess water and preened a wing for a few seconds.
Blog text (22) -
The parrot continued to preen its feathers meticulously, making sure they were all neat and clean.
Compounds
- Specialized
An oil gland at the base of a bird's tail that birds use to spread oil on their feathers
How Groomed
- Specialized
1
6.9
40
2.3
Surface Forms
Etymology
Preen comes from the bird action of cleaning and arranging its feathers with the beak; think of a bird carefully smoothing each feather to remember it means 'to clean and arrange feathers'.