hen

▪ I. hen, n.
    (hɛn)
    Forms: 1 hen(n, hæn(n, 2–5 henn, 3–7 henne, (5 hene), 3– hen.
    [OE. hęnn str. f., corresp. to OLG. *hęnna (MDu. henne, Du. hen), OHG. hęnna (Ger. henne):—WGer. *hannja, deriv. of hano, OE. hana cock.]
    1. a. The female of the common domestic or barn-door fowl, the male of which is the cock.
    As in the domestic state the females greatly exceed in number the cocks kept, and their economic importance is more prominent, the word hens is also used in some connexions as = ‘domestic fowls’ without regard to sex.

c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 37 Suæ henne somniᵹas cicceno hire under feðrum. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Ibid., Swa seo henn hyre cicenu under hyre fyþeru ᵹegaderað. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 40 Wiþ þon ilcan ᵹenim hænne rysele. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 309 Oft seo brodiᵹe henn þeah heo sarlice clocciᵹe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 66 Þe hen hwon heo haueð ileid, ne con buten kakelen. c 1308 Pol. Songs (Camden) 199 Gees no hen nad ic noȝt. 1340 Ayenb. 38 Þe little þyeues þat steleþ..hire capons, hennen, frut of hire gardins. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 280 As a cock among the hennes. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 14 Take Conynge, Hen, or Mawlard. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 170 b, Fesantes..are better to bee brought up under a Henne. 1601 Holland Pliny x. lvi. (R.), A man shall know a good and kindly hen by her comb, when it is streight and upright. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. iii. iii. ii. (R.), A common hen, if moderately fed, will lay above a hundred eggs from the beginning of spring to the latter end of autumn. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 318 ‘Boys!’ shriek'd the old king, but vainlier than a hen To her false daughters in the pool.

    b. Proverbial and other expressions. like a hen with one chick(en): indicating extreme solicitude or fussiness about a small matter; (as) mad as a wet hen: very angry; (as) scarce (occas. rare) as hen's teeth (orig. U.S.): very scarce.

1508 Dunbar Tua mariit Wemen 269 That hurtis ȝow nought worth a hen. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 223, I knewe a Prieste that was as nice as a Nonnes Henne, when he would saie Masse. 1595 G. Delamothe Treasure French Toung 19 He is as busie as a henne that hath but one chicken. 1601 Holland Pliny Ep. to Vespas., As the proverb goeth, looke to drinke there or else no where a good draught of hens milke. 1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 203 As busie as a hen with one chicken. 1732 T. Fuller Gnomologia 25 As busy as a Hen with one Chick. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xii, I'll warrant we'll never see him sell his hen of a rainy day. 1823 J. Doddridge Logan 42 Every body that was not ax'd was mad as a wet hen. 1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northampt. I. 320 ‘As busy as a hen with one chick.’ Unnecessarily solicitous or active over trifles. 1858 in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 276 As scarce as hen's teeth. 1863 ‘E. Kirke’ Southern Friends 250 [Horses are] scarcer than hen's teeth round here. 1881 A. Parker Oxfordshire Words (Suppl.) s.v., To be as busy as a hen with one chick is to make a great fuss over a little work. They also say ‘as proud as a hen with one chick’. 1893 Congress. Rec. 2 Oct. 2044/1 North of Mason and Dixon's line, colored county officials are scarce as hen's teeth. 1904 E. F. Benson Challoners x, Karl is devoted to him, just like a beautiful old hen in spectacles with one chicken. 1907 Amer. Mag. Feb. 339/1 He just looked at me and then flounced out, mad as a wet hen. 1962 Listener 5 July 8/2 A good guide for Western leaders, among whom communiqués were ‘as scarce as hens' teeth’. 1969 Times 12 June 3 (Advt.), Stoppages are as rare as hen's teeth.

    2. With qualifying words: † hen of grease, fat hen: see grease. † hen of Guinea: the Guinea hen. † Our Lady's hen: a name formerly given to the wren and the lark. Pharaoh's hen: the Egyptian vulture (Neophron Percnopterus). Port Egmont hen: the Great Skua of the Falkland Isles. sea hen: a name of the Uria Troile, Foolish Guillemot (Pennant Brit. Zool. 1768 II. 410).

1552 Huloet, Hennes of Genny, meleagrides. 1604 Drayton Owl Wks. (1793) 565/2 The Hedge Sparrow, and her compeer the Wren, (Which simple people call our Lady's-Hen). c 1878 Helps Study Bible 185 Gier Eagle (Lev. xi. 18), the ‘Egyptian vulture’ or ‘Pharaoh's hen’. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. II. v. 28 The lark was known as Our Lady's hen.

    3. a. The female of various other birds; in a wider sense, of any bird = hen-bird. See also 7.

? c 1325 in Rel. Ant. I. 168 Partriche, fesant henne ant fesant cocke. c 1420, c 1475 [see cock n.1 9]. 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. ii. vii. (R.), I my selfe..haue seene the cocke swan kill his hen, because she followed another cocke. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 167 Turky Cockes..the Hennes may compare with either the goose, or the Pehen. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 151 More iealous..then a Barbary cocke-pidgeon ouer his hen. 1766 Pennant Zool. (1776) I. 267 The hen [of the blackcock] lays seldom more than six or seven eggs. 1879 J. A. Taylor Mount. & Moor 219 An old blackcock crowing on a birch⁓tree with a dozen hens below it.

    b. Forming the second element in the name of female birds of various species, as guinea hen, grey-hen, heath-hen, moor-hen, pea-hen, water-hen, etc. q.v.
    In some of these the name of the male is in -cock, as heath-cock, peacock, etc.
    4. A female fish or crustacean.

1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery xxi. 164 Cock Lobster is known by the narrow back Part of the Tail... The Hen is soft, and the back of her Tail broader. a 1855 G. Johnston Fishes Berwicksh. (in Yarrell), The Cock and Hen Paidle spawn toward the end of March and in April. At that season the Hen..deposits her spawn among the rocks. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 31 May 5/3 A splendid salmon..The fish (a hen) was taken with a net.

    5. fig. Of persons. a. Used for wife, woman, female. humorous or low colloq. b. A hen-hearted person of either sex.

c 1626 Dick of Devon. iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 79 One of the soldiers..sayes th'are dainty Hennes. 1632 Brome North. Lass i. v. Wks. 1873 III. 10 Are you the Cockbawd to the Hen was here? 1685 Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 474 She is the Cock and I am the Hen. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women. c 1880 G. Meredith Old Chartist in Daily News (1897) 21 Sept. 6/1 But if I go and say to my old hen: I'll mend the gentry's boots, and keep discreet. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 650 The Krumen are silly hens not to go and wipe out Liberia on shore.

    6. A kind of bivalve shell-fish, Venus mercenaria. Also locally, A fresh-water mussel. Cf. hen-clam.

1603 Owen Pembrokesh. (1892) 126 Perywinkles, hens and diuerse other shell fish [still in local use (Editor's note)]. 1623 Whitbourne Newfoundland 9 Lobsters, Crafish, Muskels, Hens, and other varieties of Shelfish. 1686 J. Dunton Lett. fr. New-Eng. (1867) 178 Their black Money..is made of the shell of a Fish, which the English call Hens, but the Indians Poquauhock. 1864 Thoreau Cape Cod v. (1894) 100 The sea-clam, or hen, was not easily obtained.

    7. attrib. in sense of ‘female’: a. of birds.

c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 92 Nim þonne þa corn and ᵹewurp to sumum henfuᵹule. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1131 Þær æ fter swulten þa henne fuᵹeles. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme i. xxi. 85 The Henne Partridge is so fruitfull that [etc.]. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. Wks. 1772 I. 97 Soon after we got a hen sparrow. 1760 Edwards in Phil. Trans. LI. 835 The whole upper side nearly resembles that of a hen-pheasant. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 264 It is for the same reason that no hen-bird sings. 1818 Keats Endym. iii. 1020 The hen-dove shall not hatch Her ready eggs.

    b. of fishes, crustacea, etc.

1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea xiii. (1873) 266 There are the cock and hen lobster. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log 21 The hen crab is known from the male by her much wider waistcoat.

    8. Comb., as hen-court, hen-dam, hen-hutch, hen-keep, hen-killer, hen-loft, hen-run, hen-trough, hen-yard; hen-brained, hen-feathered, hen-footed, hen-headed, hen-house, hen-like, hen-tailed, hen-toed adjs.; hen-and-egg, used attrib. of the unresolvable problem of the ‘first cause’ (freq. in somewhat trivial contexts); cf. chicken n.¹ 6 b; hen-balk, a hen-roost; hen-blindness, nyctalopia; hen-cackle N.Z. slang (see quots.); hen-corn (see quots.); hen-driver, the hen-harrier; hen-fish, † (a) a kind of shell-fish: see sense 6; (b) a local name of the bib or pout; hen-flesh, the roughness of the skin arising from chilliness or shivering, goose-flesh; hen-frigate, ‘a ship wherein the captain's wife interfered in the duty or regulations’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1867): cf. hen-pecked b; hen-fruit chiefly U.S. slang, eggs; also hen's fruit; † hen-harm, the hen-harrier; hen-party, a gathering consisting only of women; hen-plant, a name for two common species of Plantain (Plantago lanceolata, P. major); † hen's bill, an old name of Sainfoin (Gerarde Herbal 1597, Index); hen scratch U.S., ‘a chicken feed made from grain for scattering in litter or on the ground to induce chickens to scratch’ (Dict. Americanisms); hen-scratch v., to scratch in the manner of a hen; also transf.; hensure a. [joc. formation after cock-sure a.], = cock-sure a. 5; so ˌhenˈsureness.

1931 A. L. Rowse Politics & Younger Generation 146 It is the old *hen-and-egg argument, that there is no knowing which comes first. 1951 W. Empson Struct. Complex Words 436 But firstly, there is a typical hen-and-egg problem. a 1963 L. MacNeice Astrology (1964) ii. 39 The old hen-and-egg dilemma (did god or planet come first?).

1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 135 *Hen bawks, a Hen Roost, from the Bawks of which it consists. 1893 Northumb. Gloss., Hen-baak, -balk, -boak, a hen roost.

1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 148 Hens..cannot see to pick up small grains in the dusk of the evening, and so employ this time in going to roost; on which account the disease is sometimes called *hen-blindness.

1923 W. de la Mare Riddle 93 Poor *hen-brained things, they came to be fed. 1965 A. Garner Elidor xix. 147 You landed us in enough trouble yesterday with your hen-brained ideas.

1939 J. Pascoe Unclimbed N.Z. ii. 33 All the lasting Alpine partnerships in Canterbury have been formed on the easy expeditions. ‘*Hen-cackles’ we call these expeditions. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 57 Hen-cackle..is applied by mountaineers to a mountain that is easy to climb. Doubtless there is a wider application of the term since a mere hen-cackle, a trifle, seems to have been the origin of the application.

1790 Trans. Soc. Enc. Arts, etc. VIII. 32 Wheat sown too long on the same spot, without changing the seed, will generally become smutt and *hen-corn. 1891 Sheffield Gloss. Supp., Hen corn, poor, thin, ill-fed wheat; corn which is not round and plump. ‘It will grow nothing but hen corn’.

1853 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 244 A perfectly empty *hen-court.

1678 T. Jones Heart & Right Sov. 201 No more than duck-chickens [hear] their *hen-dam, recalling them from their connatural element.

1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. (1677) 161 Of inferiour sort are these..The Forked Kite and bold Buzzard, The *Hen-driver, &c.

1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. 253 This bird..has begot both *hen-feathered and male-feathered offspring.

1603 Owen tr. Hor. Sat. ii. iv. in Pembrokesh. (1892) 125 *Henfishe best are in Lucrina Lake. 1835–59 Yarrell's Brit. Fishes (ed. 3) I. 541 The Bib or Pout..is brought to Belfast Market..under the name of Henfish.

c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 662/3 Caro gallinacia, *heneflesch. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampton Gloss., Hen-flesh.

1892 D. Jordan [‘Son of the Marshes’] Within Hour Lond. (ed. 2) 153 They know all the fowl, web-footed and *hen-footed.

1785 Grose Vulg. T. s.v., *Hen frigate..a sea phrase..applied to a ship, the captain of which had his wife on board, supposed to command him.

1854 Harper's Mag. Jan. 280/2 A young lady is said to have asked a gentleman at the table of a hotel ‘down East’ to pass her the ‘*hen fruit’. She pointed to a plate of eggs. 1873 C. G. Leland Egypt. Sketch-Bk. 71 Their ‘hen-fruit’, as it is elegantly termed in America. 1887 Boston Guide (Farmer), If he confines his Hen Fruit to the vintage of '87. 1942 Sunday Chron. 1 Mar. 1/1 To him [sc. a ward-room steward] egg and bacon is ‘hen's fruit and hog's body’.

1611 Cotgr., Ian le blanc, a *Hen-harme, or white Kite.

1912 Dialect Notes III. 578 Hen-headed, brainless. ‘That *hen-headed cuss can't do anything you tell him.’ 1938 A. H. Bill Astrophel iv. 76 Elizabeth, always short of money.., railed against the required outlay like a hen-headed housewife over a coal bill.

1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 152/1 A *hen-housed average of 104·4 eggs per bird in 112 days.

1826 Carlyle Lett. (1888) I. 41 All the farm-produce that he should need, horse-keep and *hen-keep [etc.].

1611 Cotgr. s.v. Adventurier, An idle..rogue; a hedge-creeper, *henne-killer.

1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. 252 Several of these *hen-like sub-breeds having been long propagated. 1888 Harper's Mag. Jan. 191 Wings outspread after a protective, hen-like fashion.

1592 Nashe P. Penilesse (1842) 68 Hauing no roome for his *hen-loft but the tester of his bed.

1887 W. Westall Her two Millions xxvii, It was a ‘*hen party’ to which his wife had gone. 1960 Guardian 15 Feb. 4/3 A hen-party can be a very pleasant, relaxing affair, particularly for the older woman.

1897 Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 2/1 Eulogistic accounts of his *hen-run and his kitchen-garden. 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions i. i. 20 He was now ‘on his own’ at Wabley, the proud proprietor of a large hen-run.

1887 V. Pyke Hist. Early Gold Discoveries in Otago 35 Peter was only *hen-scratching on the edges of the creek. 1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia 267 It was a small, stony, hen-scratched place of poor people. 1931 Daily News-Jrnl. (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) 15 Apr. 4/2 Corn,..White oats,..Hen Scratch. 1957 V. J. Kehoe Technique Film & T.V. Make-Up vii. 86 Facial lining for old age and other character make-ups should not look like ‘hen scratchings’.

1929 D. H. Lawrence Assorted Articles (1930) 72 There are the women who are cocksure, and the women who are *hensure. Ibid. 76 The lovely henny surety, the hensureness which is the real bliss of every female, has been denied her. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 64/1 The old age reserved for the hensure types.

1868 Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. 252 A *hen-tailed sub-breed of Hamburghs was recently much esteemed.

1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 388 *Hen-toed, with one's feet turned in as one walks. 1955 I. Peebles Ashes 36 He stands at the wicket rather hen-toed.

1701 J. Cunningham in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1207 A small frame about 3 or 4 foot long not much larger than a *Hen-trough.

1816 M. L. Weems Lett. (1929) III. 166 Yr. Bible carts had been here as thick as weasels in a *hen yard selling Bibles at nearly half price. 1876 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 813/2 The best places in which to look for Jacobean sideboards..are found to be the hen-yard. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 121/1 The breeders have been housed in the henyard previously used for layers.

▪ II. † hen, henne, adv. Obs.
    Forms: α. 1 *hionane, heonane, -one, 2–3 heonene, 3 hinene, hennene, hinne, heonne, honne, 3–4 hunne, 3–5 henne, (4 hanne). β. 1 *hinan, hionan, heonan, -on, -un, 2 *heonen, (honen, henon), 2–3 henen, (3 hennen, heonnen, honnen, hunnen). γ. 1 (-hina), hiona, heona, 2–3 heone, 4–5 hene, hen. δ. 4–6 hyne, q.v.
    [OE. *hionane, hionan = OS. and OHG. hinana, hinan, MDu. henen, MHG. hinnen, hinne, Ger. hinnen; cf. also OHG. hina, MHG. hine, hin, Ger. hin, MLG. hen, MDu. hēne, hin, Du. heen; adverbial formations from root hi- ‘this’, of he pron. The various OE. types gave a great number of forms in ME., all which are now obsolete, leaving only the later extended form henne-s, hen-s, hence, and the Sc. hyne.]
    = hence: of place, time, or inference.

α a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 791 Nu þu hie grimman meaht heonane ᵹehyran. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xvii. 20 Gyf..ᵹe cwædon to þissum munte far heonone [Lindisf. G. heona, Rushw. G. heonan, Hatton G. heonen]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 11 We moten heonene feren. c 1205 Lay. 7122 Uncuðe leoden..beoð idriuen hennene. Ibid. 19119 Þenne maȝen we..heonene [c 1275 hinne] iwenden. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1393 Ear we faren henne. a 1250 Owl & Night. 66 Alle ho the driveth honne. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 226/238 Þat is hunne meni a myle. Ibid. 236/584 ‘Wend heonne’, heo seiden. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 476 Wende we henne anon. a 1300 St. Michael 98 in Treat. Science (1841) 134 More..Than hit beo hunne to the mone. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 1237 Beues, þow most hanne To Brademond. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1218 (1246) Þat day is not fer henne. c 1440 Partonope 173 But two yere henne and one half a yere.

β c 825 Vesp. Psalter xcii[i]. 2 Hionan from weorulde. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ix. 24 Gað heonun [Hatton G. Gað heonen]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 161 Seðen hie henen wenden. c 1205 Lay. 5822 Ȝif we hennen [c 1275 hinne] fareð þus. Ibid. 5968 Heonnen [c 1275 hinene] he wule buȝen in to Bruttæine.

γ [a 800 Leiden Gloss. 255 in O.E. Texts 117 Citra, bihina.] c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke iv. 9 Asend ðeh heona aduna [Rushw. G. hiona of dune]. c 1340 Cursor M. 18080 (Fairf.) Do now go hen fro me sathon. Ibid. 20388 (Fairf.), I was farrer hen..ferre out in anoþer lond. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 113, I pray yow spede vs heythen [Camb. hene] that ye may. 1426 Audelay Poems 9 And bryng thi lyf to good endyng, here and hen.

    Hence † hen-, henneforth, -forthward(s, forward adv., henceforth, henceforward. † hen(en)sith n., departure hence, death. † henward, heoneward adv., away from here, hence.

c 1000 ælfric Gen. viii. 21 Nelle ic nateshwon awirᵹean þa eorþan heonon forþ for mannum. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Ic nelle henon forð mancyn mid watere adrenche. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2099 Him we kennið..heonne forðwardes. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 593 Henne forward ne reche y me Of mi liif whare it be. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 170 To be hise frendis from henneforþ. 1382 ― Phil. iii. 1 Henne forthward, my britheren, haue ȝe ioye in the Lord. 14.. Tundale's Vis. 2292 Fro syn henforward thou the absteyne. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xliii. lf. 93 (Gibbs MS.) Now henne forwarde be plesede and welwylled to hem for my loue.

a 1000 Cod. Exon. (Th.) 450 Heofona hyrde, æfter heonan siþe, godum dædum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 185 Sorehful is ure hider cume, and sorilich ure henen sið.

971 Blickl. Hom. 115 Þæt þeos world is scyndende and heononweard. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1915 Me longeð heonneward. a 1225 Ancr. R. 98 Aris up; hie þe heoneward.

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