Meaning

3 senses

  1. A forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth.

  2. (dialectal)A pin.

  3. (dialectal)A bodkin; brooch.

Examples

3 sentences

  1. Topping off the performance with a backflip, the dancer preened in the applause.

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  2. A duck will preen its feathers many times over the course of the day.

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  3. The bird preened its feathers.

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Origin

From Middle English pren, from Old English prēon, from Proto-Germanic *preunaz (compare Ic

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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: preens

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
predominatepreeminentC2preemptivepreexistprefab
preen — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto