Primp vs Preen - What's the difference?
primp | preen |
To spend time improving one's appearance (often in front of a mirror).
*2001 Jo-Ann Mapson, "Bad Girl Creek"
**"Then I promise I'll let you take your bath and primp all day for your date."
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 verbs the difference between primp and preen
is that primp is to spend time improving one's appearance (often in front of a mirror) while preen is to pin; fasten.As a noun preen is
a forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth.primp
English
Verb
See also
* preenpreen
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)