1Brush and clean the coat of (a horse, dog, or other animal)

1. 1.1 (of an animal) clean the fur or skin of (itself or another animal)
   their main preoccupation is licking and grooming themselves

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I have never seen any of my pets groom themselves properly.
   • With great dignity, she sits and carefully grooms herself, looking at me haughtily.
   • Increasingly, however, he was becoming listless and withdrawn, refusing invitations to play and grooming himself disconsolately.
   • It is next to impossible for a fruit bat to avoid the grit, which adheres to the sticky fruit it eats as well as to the animal itself; even as a bat grooms itself, it gets a mouthful of the ash.
   • They noted that the mutant mice groomed themselves excessively-to the extent of creating bald spots and skin wounds.
   • Cats will groom themselves and this allows loose hair to come off the pet and end up in the stomachs.
   • But when we put the camera on the lion in Kenya, the lion actually groomed itself and cleaned the camera lens for us.
   • Pets usually remove some of the eggs while grooming themselves; others fall off as the animal moves from place to place.
   • Other behaviors also appear to be normal: flies groom, court, mate, jump, and fly.
   • Flying foxes have a long bristly tongue that's great for lapping up juicy fruit, and for licking and grooming themselves and their friends!
   • Rabbits groom themselves just like cats, and consequently do get fur balls in their stomachs just like puss.
   • A few paces away the cat sat grooming himself.
   • Cats groom themselves almost constantly, and swallow the loose hair that comes off their tongues.
   • When a cat grooms himself, he removes loose hair from throughout his body and it ends up in his stomach.
   • They groom so incessantly that they develop great bald spots and skin lesions - and other poor mice housed with them also lose their hair.
   • During these meetings the lorises groomed one another, play-wrestled, and fed.
   • The male carries, feeds, and grooms the infants - with help from their older siblings - and may even act as a midwife during birth, grooming and licking the newborn marmosets.
   • This can lead to the cat grooming its rear end less, due to discomfort or pain.
   • Chinese honey bees have grooming behavior which can remove the mites from the bees.
   • Why do gecko feet stay sticky for months, when they walk on all kinds of surfaces and never groom their feet?

   Synonyms

   clean, tidy, smooth, arrange
2. 1.2often as adjective groomed Give a neat and tidy appearance to (someone)
   with submodifier a beautifully groomed woman

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Her silvery hair is perfectly groomed, her make-up subtly enhancing.
   • Today more than ever, women appreciate men who are neatly groomed.
   • Firstly, his hair was not perfectly groomed but instead it stuck up in strange directions.
   • Russians usually try to appear as neatly groomed and dressed as possible when out in public.
   • Dressed formally, and carefully groomed, he looked like a suitor.
   • I showered, groomed, clothed, and flicked on the TV for the last few minutes I had before I had to start walking.
   • Their hair was always the optimum length and beautifully groomed.
   • She is bouncy and friendly and immaculately groomed.
   • Judging from the immaculately groomed appearances of the students around her, Claire hadn't been the only one to spend a little extra time getting ready this morning.
   • After her first outing as the Chancellor's wife at the Labour Party conference in September, groomed to perfection and wearing vivid crimson, the tabloids raved about her.
   • In the restaurant this morning, their neat, groomed creator chooses a well-organised breakfast of fruit followed by poached eggs.
   • If eyebrows are thick, they are groomed to perfection.
   • Johnston said: ‘I've played with the wedge cut and dropped it over one eye but kept the feel very elegant and groomed.’
   • I am being fed, groomed and clothed properly, so do not think I am being starved or abused.
   • She was, as always, impeccably groomed and quite beautiful, but a petulant expression on her face marred her good looks slightly.
   • His straight raven-colored hair was almost perfectly groomed, and he smelled faintly of cologne or another fragrance.
   • Her black hair was groomed well for somebody who was just born.
   • His smart suit, beautifully groomed long hair and supreme confidence symbolized the vital reclamation of a lost life.
   • Turn the sun visors down and the vanity mirror has a sliding shutter too - move it aside and the light comes on so Madame can apply her make-up and step out perfectly groomed at the end!
   • With his neat Savile Row pinstripe suit and beautifully groomed hair, he looks more like an English aristocrat than one of the biggest players in the petrochemicals business.

   Synonyms

   brush, comb, smooth, do, dress, arrange, adjust, put in order, tidy, make tidy, spruce up, smarten up, preen, primp, freshen up

   informal fix
3. 1.3 Look after (a lawn, ski slope, or other surface)
   groom your lawn—keep the grass cut

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Infused with a sense of nostalgic charm, Chapman's caricatures evoke tearooms, groomed lawns, corrugated iron and lamingtons.
   • For nearly a century the groomed front lawn had been de rigueur on almost every street on this continent.
   • Winter adds snowboarding, ice-skating, and cross-country and downhill skiing on the resort's groomed trails and ski slopes.
   • If your partner enjoys a little gentle skiing, Corviglia, the home mountain, has beautifully groomed slopes that will make the most amateur performer look good.
   • To make matters worse, the popularity of groomed lawns, ornamental hybrid plants and bug-free yards drives out native plant species.
   • Snowboarding is banned, but carefully groomed slopes and beginner and intermediate runs over 65 percent of the area offer easy skiing.
   • Closed to motorized traffic, the road is groomed in winter for skiing.
   • Thanks largely to snowboarders, and abundant fresh snow topping up the slopes faster than it can be groomed, Japanese skiers have been discovering the joys of powder.
   • I am tempted to say that we suburban parents have it all wrong-with the tended lawns and groomed and protected childhoods we work so hard to provide.
   • The trail ahead was freshly groomed - those delicious ridges always make me think of a wedding cake.
   • High security walls obscure sprawling lawns with exquisitely groomed coiffures.
   • Skiing alone down what appeared to be groomed slopes I didn't see anyone for several minutes, which several seasons in the Alps has taught me could only be because I'd strayed way off piste.
   • There are just a few places I know of that groom trails for the sport.
   • Waiting hopefully outside on the well - groomed lawn, they were both rewarded by his careful emergence through the back screen door.
   • Some were tidy bungalows on streets with perfectly groomed lawns.
   • Flying down a perfectly groomed trail in a winter wonderland is an image many of us fantasize about.
   • Vertical-mow only in a manner that grooms the surface or use brushings, which help control grain and encourage vertical growth.

   Synonyms

   brush, comb, smooth, do, dress, arrange, adjust, put in order, tidy, make tidy, spruce up, smarten up, preen, primp, freshen up

2Prepare or train (someone) for a particular purpose or activity.

1. 2.1 (of a paedophile) prepare (a child) for a meeting, especially via an Internet chat room, with the intention of committing a sexual offence.

1A person employed to take care of horses.

2A bridegroom.

3British Any of various officials of the royal household.