ˈmoor-hen
[f. moor n.1 + hen.]
1. The Water-hen, Gallinula chloropus.
| c 1300 Pol. Songs (Camden) 158 Heo cometh by-modered ase a mor-hen. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 599/43 Palestris, a morhen. 1575 Turberv. Falconrie 137 Some hold opinion, that the bones and bloud of a Bargander, Moorehen, and such like, may be giuen to an hauke. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Impr. (1746) 205 Some Birds are sodden or roasted without their Skins, because they are black and bitter, as Rooks, Daws, Coots, and Moor-hens. 1705 Dale Pharmacol. Suppl. 359 A. Gallina aquatica... The Common Water-Hen, or Moor-Hen. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 808/2 In winter, when the inland waters are frozen, the majority of Moor-hens betake themselves to the tidal rivers. |
2. The female of the red grouse, Lagopus scoticus.
| 1347 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 42 In..vj Morehennes empt. 1530 Palsgr. 246/1 Morehen, poulle griache. 1553 Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 185 The best mure hen vjd. 1611 Cotgr., Poule griesche, a Moorehenne, the henne of the Grice, or Mooregame. a 1796 Burns ‘The Heather was blooming’ 4 At length they discovered a bonie moor-hen. 1837 Macgillivray Brit. Birds I. 169 Lagopus Scoticus...Moor-fowl. Moor-cock, Moor-hen. |
3. A bird of the Australian genus Tribonyx.
| 1860 G. Bennett Gatherings Nat. in Australasia viii. 169 The Rail-like bird, the Black-tailed Tribonyx, or Moor Hen of the colonists. |
4. The American coot, Fulica americana.
| 1888 Trumbull Names of Birds 117. |