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

Through the lens Axel watches the adult preen the baby, touching it with his beak.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

Lomakin occasionally overdoes Lieutenant Kelly’s wide-eyed bungling, but Carpenter preens suitably in Confederate uniform.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2023

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

The title character of “Carlos” broods and preens over his determination to be a revolutionary outlaw hero.

From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2020

Robotnik preens, seethes, and contorts his face to spit out condescending sarcasm with all the psychology of a Saturday morning cartoon baddie.

From Slate ● Feb. 14, 2020

“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

With a singular presence and a deeply personal cadence, he preened and strode, quipped, opined, demanded and screamed into many, many telephones.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2022

The performances viewers see are not mimed to a studio recording that was made in advance and preened to perfection with editing.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2021

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

She turned and preened in the air, ran her fingers through her hair, and examined herself as if delighted by her own beauty all over again.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

And there’s the leering, preening Rupert Mannion from “Ted Lasso” — multimillionaire soccer team owner, inveterate philanderer and incurably vindictive divorcé.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

The ducks are sitting or preening at the water, or about to take flight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

And in the role of Cinderella’s Prince, he turned himself into “a preening fop” who understands full well that he’s meant to be charming, not sincere, as the character himself explains late in the musical.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024

The “Oppenheimer” crowd were hardly the hardest partiers at the Vanity Fair post- Oscars party on Sunday night, but they hardly needed to be, their hardware did all the preening for them.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2024

To the rest of the Barrel she was the Peacock, though Inej had always thought she looked less like a bird than a preening cat.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo