hen-and-chickens

American  

[hen-uhn-chik-uhnz] / ˈhɛn ənˈtʃɪk ənz /

noun

plural

hens-and-chickens

1. any of several succulent plants that grow in clusters or colonies formed by runners or offshoots, as those of the genera Echeveria and Sempervivum.

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hen-and-chickens British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular or plural) any of several plants, such as the houseleek and ground ivy, that produce many offsets or runners

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Etymology

Origin of hen-and-chickens

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

This hen-and-chickens kind of thinking led the Germans into a disastrous war under the leadership of an articulate, power-mad Hitler.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the uplands the grass would be strewn with buttercups, with hen-and-chickens, with black-centered yellow violets.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

The sterile bracts of the daisy occasionally produce capitula, and give rise to the hen-and-chickens daisy.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 5 "Fleury, Claude" to "Foraker" by Various

Owing to their habit of producing a circle of young plants around the parent, they are commonly called "hen-and-chickens."

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

Each schooner has several dories, which fish all round it, thus suggesting what is often called the hen-and-chickens style.

From All Afloat A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways by Wood, William Charles Henry