ˈwater-hen
1. Any of the various ralline birds, esp. the moor-hen, Gallinula chloropus.
| a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 453 The dyuendop to slepe; The water-hen to wepe. 1544 Turner Avium Præcip. I 6, τρύγγας, trynga, Anglice a water hen, or a mot hen. 1621 [see didapper]. 1675 Hobbes Odyss. v. 316 And now in figure of a Water-hen, She sat upon the Raft and to him spake. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. ii. i. 312 Section I. Cloven-footed Birds that swim in the Water... Chap. 1. Of Water-hens or More-hens in general. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy viii. xxxiv, Thou must..carefully abstain..from peacocks, cranes, coots, didappers and water⁓hens. 1844 Hood Haunted Ho. i. 54 The coot was swimming in the reedy pond, Beside the water-hen. 1867 Morris Jason xv. 130 So still she stood, that the quick water-hen Noted her not. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 118 The specimens included..rails, water-hens, [etc.]. |
b. water-hen hackle, an artificial fly made of the hackle feathers of the water-hen.
| 1837 J. Kirkbride Northern Angler 31 The Water-hen Hackle..is an excellent trout-fly. |
† 2. purple water-hen: = porphyrio. Obs.
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. iii. ii. iii. 318 Of the Porphyrio, or purple Water-hen. 1743 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds ii. 87 The Purple Water-Hen. |
3. The American coot, Pulica americana. local U.S. (Mass.)
| 1891 Century Dict. |
4. East Indian. (See quot.)
| 1873 E. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) V. s.v. Water hen. The Indian water hen, Parra Sinensis,..is met with in the north of India, running over the leaves of the lotus. |