preen

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

“When you have that double concentration, it really focuses you. It forces you to not lay back, becomes quite athletic. You don’t show, point, preen or strut, you do. That’s always the sweet spot.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2024

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

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

Brianne purrs and preens even as she expresses skepticism, and whines and demurs when she might bare real claws.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 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

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

He preened, grabbed his oversized scissors and opened his mouth to boast, but no one could hear a single word over the deafening roar of Marine One’s idling engines.

From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026

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

Hagler’s Marvelous nickname was bestowed by a Lowell, Mass., journalist when he fought there as an amateur and preened in the ring, emulating Muhammad Ali.

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2021

Sumac preened himself happily on the other side, and I will say I felt as full and content as Mama Killa at that moment.

From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis

Mr. Turturro brings a savory humor and pathos to the scene, while Mr. Giamatti’s preening lecturing has a contrasting comic officiousness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

As in most of the director’s movies, the characters behave like preening betta fish.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

When they film themselves preening on their phones, with the images projected onto the giant mirrors, Claire and Solange use filters that turn their sallow, pinched faces into plump-lipped, high-cheekboned ones that suggest Kim Kardashian.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

Many were motionless, while others perched on rocks preening their feathers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025

No questions, no interviews—but there was certainly a lot of preening.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman