henpeck

American  

[hen-pek] / ˈhɛnˌpɛk /

verb (used with object)

1. to browbeat, bully, or intimidate (one's husband, boyfriend, etc.).

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henpeck British  

/ ˈhɛnˌpɛk /

verb

1. (tr) (of a woman) to harass or torment (a man, esp her husband) by persistent nagging

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Other Word Forms

• henpecked
  adjective

Example Sentences

Was it possible that she might not be going to henpeck him after all? 

From The Way of All Flesh by Butler, Samuel

Mrs. Stanton is of intellectual stock, impressive in manner and disposed to henpeck the convention which of course calls out resistance and much cackling....

From The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Harper, Ida Husted

The husband of the one dollar variety was more or less of a henpeck because he could not multiply his income by five and produce a concrete result.

From Skookum Chuck Fables Bits of History, Through the Microscope by Cumming, R. D. (Robert Dalziel)

When it became hubby's duty to cook the meals and carry half of them to bed for his better half every morning before breakfast he began to taste silly and smell sort of henpeck like.

From Skookum Chuck Fables Bits of History, Through the Microscope by Cumming, R. D. (Robert Dalziel)

The verb henpeck, to describe the teasing of her husband by a disagreeable wife, comes, of course, from the idea of the continual pecking of a hen.

From Stories That Words Tell Us by O'Neill, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Speakman)