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 →

2) Of a person (often joking or disapproving): to spend a lot of time making yourself look nice. tree →

3) To feel or show pride in yourself: preen yourself on something. tree →

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 →
• Ducks preen to keep their feathers waterproof. tree →
• My brother preened in front of the mirror before the party. tree →
• The parrot preened itself on its perch. tree →
• She preened herself on winning the prize. tree →
• Stop preening and come and eat! tree →
• He turned sharply, and there, just above him on the branch of a tree, sat a large Parrot, busily preening his feathers. tree →

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.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «preen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.