preen

Updates shared on social media show them eating regularly, growing stronger and starting to move their wings and preen their feathers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

These days, pastel and fluorescent birds groom, preen and bicker in enclosures behind the home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

Maybe it’s happiest tucked into a cast-iron skillet, going golden and jammy while the showier types preen in their baskets.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2025

It might be a bank holiday in the UK, but for the designers, publicists and PAs, it'll be an extraordinarily busy day as they preen and prepare their stars to walk the grand staircase.

From BBC ● May 4, 2025

"You going somewhere, or just wearing a hole in that carpet while you preen?"

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Sometimes his comic instincts do pay off, as when Thor, Jane and friends crash a neo-Olympian, Vegas-ready paradise called Omnipotence City, where Crowe’s Zeus preens, prances and speaks in a hilariously awful Greek accent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2022

A few blocks away preens Bergdorf Goodman, the beautiful princess whose holding company, Neiman Marcus, muscled recently into the Hudson Yards, like a watchful mother-in-law moving into the guest cottage.

From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2019

Swain’s Damon rolls on the floor and preens like a cat.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 6, 2019

It swims and preens and eats, sure, but it will never migrate over the Korean Peninsula, or use its amazing plumage to flag down a mate as it would in the wild.

From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2019

“Methinks she preens her feathers just for me,” Guildenstern boasted.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

So if you happen to raise an orphan like we did with Alfie, that desire to be preened is very relatable.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2023

Sporting a flipped bouffant hairstyle and a floral wiggle dress that harked back to the 1967 film “Valley of the Dolls,” she’s not just immaculately preened for her inaugural L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2023

Before the premiere, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Hardwick preened for photographs but entertained questions only from television reporters.

From New York Times ● Aug. 21, 2019

Another activist, Joy Villa, preened in the background in a floor-length red gown emblazoned with the word “freedom.”

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2019

I preened a while, this way and that.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

I understand that preening and politicking is way more fun and ego-enhancing than the minutiae of government in Sacramento.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026

In a moment with Colin Farrell as his preening son, Duvall is shocked and disappointed by how things are being handled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

But it’s tricky to maintain a balance between eliciting sympathy for the central duo and making sport of them, in all their preening garishness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025

Mr. Dirden speaks with a majestic orotundity that evokes a preacher carrying around an invisible pulpit, and exudes a preening pomposity and the requisite vicious abusiveness toward Lucky.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025

The fu dog trundled about, preening and showing off.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton