Preen vs Preon - What's the difference?
preen | preon |
A forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth.
(dialectal) pin
(dialectal) bodkin; brooch
(of birds) To groom; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers.
To show off, posture, or smarm.
* 1993 , Scott Simmon, The Films of D W Griffith
* 2004 , Jude Deveraux, Counterfeit Lady
(UK, dialect, dated) To trim up, as trees.
As nouns the difference between preen and preon
is that preen is a forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth while preon is a hypothetical point-like particle, supposed to be a subcomponent of quarks and leptons.As a verb preen
is to pin; fasten.preen
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) pren, from (etyl) ‘edge’, Albanian brez ‘belt, girdle’). The verb is from (etyl) prenen, from .Alternative forms
* (l) (dialectal)Noun
(en noun)Etymology 2
Variant of prune (by influence of preen above) Attested in Chaucer (c. 1395) in the variants preyneth, prayneth, proyneth, prunyht, pruneth , from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- His preening self-satisfaction, chest thrown forward as he settles into a chair in his mansion...
- He preened under her compliments.
- (Halliwell)