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View synonyms for hen

hen

[ hen ]

noun

  1. a female chicken:

    Our hens only recently started laying, but these fresh eggs were worth the wait!

  2. the female of any bird, especially a gallinaceous bird:

    The mallard drakes are splendidly colorful while the hens are camouflaged in drab plumage.

  3. the female of certain marine creatures, including lobsters and salmon:

    I prefer a hen when making lobster bisque, as the dark red roe enhances both flavor and color.

  4. Informal: Sometimes Offensive. a usually middle-aged or older woman, especially one who is considered to be petty or gossipy:

    Let’s get out of here and leave the hens to their blather.

  5. Informal. a female in attendance at a hen party:

    The incident at the restaurant occurred hours after our party was over and we’d all gone home, but all of us hens were brought in for questioning the next morning.

  6. British and Australian Informal. the bride-to-be at a bachelorette party:

    A toast to Vera, the beautiful hen, who’s flying our coop in less than a fortnight!

  7. Scots Informal. an affectionate or familiar term of address to a girl or woman:

    That’s lovely, hen, thank you.



hen

/ hɛn /

noun

  1. the female of any bird, esp the adult female of the domestic fowl
  2. the female of certain other animals, such as the lobster
  3. informal.
    a woman regarded as gossipy or foolish
  4. dialect.
    a term of address (often affectionate), used to women and girls
  5. scarce as hen's teeth
    extremely rare
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Other Words From

  • hen·like adjective
  • hen·nish adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hen1

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English hen(n) (compare Old English hana “cock”); cognate with German Henne; akin to Latin canere “to sing”; chant ( def ), charm 1( def )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hen1

Old English henn; related to Old High German henna, Old Frisian henne
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Idioms and Phrases

see mad as a hornet (wet hen) ; scarce as hen's teeth .
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Example Sentences

He even claims that hen partridges conceive just by smelling the scent of males.

“[W]hen the going got tough, his economic team picked Wall Street,” Warren said.

He eventually brings his wife and children over, and later he manages a hen and rabbit farm.

He described her then as “a mother hen who took care of everyone.”

“[W]hen a novelist finds an audience, even a small one … the relation is based on recognition, not misunderstanding,” he writes.

Out of the darkening sky rang the twanging call of a night-hawk, and the cluck of a dozing hen sounded from the foliage overhead.

What can be prettier than a brood of chickens with a good motherly hen, like the one in this picture!

“Well, Hen knows how to kill snakes, but maybe she is a poor judge of character,” laughed Amy.

The storm hath passed;I hear the birds rejoice; the hen,Returned into the road again,Her cheerful notes repeats.

Their manner of talking has been compared to the clucking of a hen, and by the Dutch to the "gobbling of a turkeycock."

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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