mess up vs preen

mess up

verb
  • To botch, bungle; to perform poorly on. 

  • To damage; injure. 

  • To manhandle; beat up; rough up. 

  • To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. 

  • To cause a problem with; to introduce an error or mistake in; to make muddled or confused; spoil; ruin. 

  • To cause (another person) to make unwanted mistakes in a given task, usually through distraction or obnoxious behavior. 

  • To make a mistake; to do something incorrectly; to perform poorly. 

  • To discombobulate, utterly confuse, or confound psychologically; to throw into a state of mental disarray. 

preen

verb
  • To flatter. 

  • To spend time making oneself attractive and admiring one's appearance, e.g. in front of a mirror. 

  • To trim up, as trees. 

  • To improve the appearance of; groom; prettify. 

  • To comb; to make orderly. 

  • To groom; to trim or dress with the beak, as the feathers. 

  • To show off, posture, or smarm. 

  • To pin; fasten. 

noun
  • bodkin; brooch 

  • A forked tool used by clothiers for dressing cloth. 

  • pin 

How often have the words mess up and preen occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )