preen: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for July 12 is:

preen \PREEN\ verb
1 of a bird : to groom with the bill
2 : to dress or smooth up : primp
*3 : to pride or congratulate (oneself) for achievement
4 : gloat

Example sentence:
Jim had just beat the chess club's best player, so nobody could blame him for preening himself on his victory.

Did you know?
The incubation of "preen" began in the 14th century with the spelling "prenen," which can itself be traced to the Anglo-French forms "pur-," meaning "thoroughly," and "uindre" or "oindre," meaning "to anoint or rub." One of the first writers to apply "preen" to the human act of primping was Geoffrey Chaucer in _The Canterbury Tales_. It took a long time -- around 500 years -- for the prideful meaning of "preen" to hatch, but another bird-related word, "plume," was available for use with the meaning "to pride or congratulate (oneself)" from the first half of the 17th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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