marsh hen

noun

1. any of various rails or raillike birds.

marsh hen

noun

1. any bird that frequents marshes and swamps, esp a rail, coot, or gallinule

Word History and Origins

Origin of marsh hen¹

An Americanism dating back to 1700–10

Example Sentences

Once we crossed a patch of oozy turf from which arose a score of jack-snipe; again we skirted a drying pond whose boggy edges were the hunting ground of marsh hens.

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Down they scurried like three valiant marsh hens to aid the turtle.

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From the grass above came the sleepy cry of marsh hens, and once a great white heron rose like a ghost across their path.

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In the meantime he would not rob that marsh hen's nest which he had found.

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It is separated from the main land by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the marsh hen.

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