hen
a female chicken: Our hens only recently started laying, but these fresh eggs were worth the wait!
the female of any bird, especially a gallinaceous bird: The mallard drakes are splendidly colorful while the hens are camouflaged in drab plumage.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Scots Informal. an affectionate or familiar term of address to a girl or woman: That’s lovely, hen, thank you.
Origin of hen
1Other words from hen
- hen·like, adjective
- hen·nish, adjective
Words Nearby hen
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hen in a sentence
That is not the case with egg-laying hens, which have been bred to put all their energy toward laying.
Why the US egg industry is still killing 300 million chicks a year | Tove K. Danovich | April 12, 2021 | VoxIn chickens, the hen controls whether the resulting chick is male or female.
Why the US egg industry is still killing 300 million chicks a year | Tove K. Danovich | April 12, 2021 | VoxAll the eggs produced by hens sexed with this technology are sold under the Respeggt brand, free from chick culling.
Why the US egg industry is still killing 300 million chicks a year | Tove K. Danovich | April 12, 2021 | VoxFile this under, “Sure, I’ll watch your hens,” said the fox.
You can look at the number of hens laying eggs in this country.
What Happens When Everyone Stays Home to Eat? (Ep. 412) | Stephen J. Dubner | April 9, 2020 | Freakonomics
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.
Nothing Was Banal About Eichmann’s Evil, Says a Scathing New Biography | Michael Signer | October 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe described her then as “a mother hen who took care of everyone.”
Joni Ernst's Big Pivot: From Pig Castrator to Iowa Nice | Ben Jacobs | August 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“[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.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydWhat can be prettier than a brood of chickens with a good motherly hen, like the one in this picture!
The Nursery, July 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 1 | Various“Well, hen knows how to kill snakes, but maybe she is a poor judge of character,” laughed Amy.
The Campfire Girls of Roselawn | Margaret PenroseThe storm hath passed;I hear the birds rejoice; the hen,Returned into the road again,Her cheerful notes repeats.
The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi | Giacomo LeopardiTheir manner of talking has been compared to the clucking of a hen, and by the Dutch to the "gobbling of a turkeycock."
Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
British Dictionary definitions for hen
/ (hɛn) /
the female of any bird, esp the adult female of the domestic fowl
the female of certain other animals, such as the lobster
informal a woman regarded as gossipy or foolish
Scot dialect a term of address (often affectionate), used to women and girls
scarce as hen's teeth extremely rare
Origin of hen
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with hen
see mad as a hornet (wet hen); scarce as hen's teeth.
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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