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# preen

«preen» in Mova's school dictionary: **Of a bird: to clean and tidy its feathers with its beak** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (preen, preens, preened, preening)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Of a bird: to clean and tidy its feathers with its beak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#m1)

2) Of a person (often joking or disapproving): to spend a lot of time making yourself look nice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#m2)

3) To feel or show pride in yourself: preen yourself on something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons about birds, preening keeps feathers clean, waterproof and good for flying. In stories it can make a character seem vain. Phrases: preen its feathers, preen in front of the mirror.

### examples

- The swan preened its white feathers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x1)
- Ducks preen to keep their feathers waterproof. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x2)
- My brother preened in front of the mirror before the party. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x3)
- The parrot preened itself on its perch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x4)
- She preened herself on winning the prize. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x5)
- Stop preening and come and eat! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x6)
- He turned sharply, and there, just above him on the branch of a tree, sat a large Parrot, busily preening his feathers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/#x7)

### note

Regular verb: preened. When said of people it often sounds like a gentle criticism (vain, showing off).

### In the corpora

- [Birds preen to keep their feathers clean, tidy and waterproof.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/73-birds-feathers-nests-flight/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «preen» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/preen/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.