hen

American  

[hen] / hɛn /

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.

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hen British  

/ 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. extremely rare

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hen Idioms  

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

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Other Word Forms

• henlike adjective
• hennish adjective

Etymology

Origin of hen

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. )

Example Sentences

He keeps hens in his hostel room and dreams up improbable schemes to transform India - including planting trees along railway tracks, fertilised by waste from passing trains.

From BBC

They all slogged back up to the ridge, mad as wet hens … or maybe drenched roosters.

From Literature

His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: "You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen -- you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us."

From Barron's

I follow him to our darkened compartment, which is already occupied by three sleeping soldiers, a stout nun, and an irritable hen.

From Literature

The time he stitched up one of the hens and carried it around in his coat for a week after it had been attacked by a fox.

From Literature

Related Words

• chicken
• duck
• fowl
• geese
• pheasant
• pigeon