English Dictionary

preen

IPA（発音記号）

/pɹiːn/

動詞

自動詞 鳥類 他動詞 人間対象 再帰形 広義

(of birds, transitive, intransitive) To groom; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers.

日本語の意味

（主に鳥が）自分自身の羽毛をくちばしで整えたり、飾り立てるように手入れする行動。 / （比喩的に）自分の外見を整え、見た目を美しくする行動。

The pigeon began to preen its feathers in the warm sunlight.

ハトは暖かな日差しの中で羽繕いを始めた。

意味（1）

(of birds, transitive, intransitive) To groom; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers.

意味（2）

(of people, intransitive, reflexive) To spend time making oneself attractive and admiring one's appearance, e.g. in front of a mirror.

Mr Kernan halted and preened himself before the sloping mirror of Peter Kennedy, hairdresser. Stylish coat, beyond a doubt. Scott of Dawson street. Well worth the half sovereign I gave Neary for it.

意味（3）

(intransitive) To show off, posture, or smarm.

His preening self-satisfaction, chest thrown forward as he settles into a chair in his mansion...

意味（4）

(transitive) To flatter.

In Miller's view the play is expressive of a peculiarly Renaissance vision of the harmonious marriage within the orderly society: 'its spirit derives from Elizabethan Puritanism's view of the household as an orderly place in whichc the marriage is consecrated not in the church but in the orderly procedures of domesticity ; in which obedience is required , not in order to preen the male pride of the father, but to restore order in a fallen world '

意味（5）

(transitive) To comb; to make orderly.

My two roommates are engineers who preen the diesels.

意味（6）

(transitive) To trim up, as trees.

Adjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose, he gently preened the bush with his pruners.

意味（7）

(transitive, more generally) To improve the appearance of; groom; prettify.

He brushed and preened the marquis, front and back. “Lucky we are, Your Grace, no gashes that I see. But the beard is in a woeful state —”

preens （ present singular third-person ）

preening （ participle present ）

preened （ participle past ）

preened （ past ）