Noun: preen
| Singular | preen |
| Plural | preens |
Sample Sentences
-
She never seemed to want for siller; the house was as bright as a new preen, the yaird better delved than the manse garden; […] [1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:]
Nouns inflected like preen
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English pren, from Old English prēon, from Proto-Germanic *preunaz (compare Icelandic prjónn (“pin, knitting-needle”), Danish pryne (“needle, eel-spear”)), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *brewn- (“protrusion, tip, edge”) (compare Lithuanian briaunà (“edge”), Albanian brez (“belt, girdle”)). Cognate with German Pfriem.
2. The verb is from Middle English prenen, from pren (“a preen”), akin to German pfriemen. See: Icelandic Nouns '
prjónn'.
Verbs referencing "preen"
Icelandic Nouns
prjónn.