greyhenn.
/ˈɡreɪhɛn/, U.S. /ˈɡreɪˌhɛn/ The female of the black grouse, Tetrao tetrix, which has grey-brown plumage. Cf. blackcock n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Tetraonidae (grouse) > [noun] > member of genus Lyrurus (black grouse) > female
greyhen1550
heath-hen1591
heath-poult1678
1550 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 95 Item the blak cok, and the gray hen vi d. Item the powttis the doosen xii d.
c1600 in Balfour's Practicks (1754) 542 Wyld foulis, sic as pertrikis, pluveris, black cockis, gray hennis.
1618 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 79 2 gray hens.
1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. i. 23 The Black Cock, his Hen the Grey hen; his Brood the Grey Game.
1757 Stat. Law Scot. Abridg. 117 Black-cock, gray-hen, moor-fowl, forbidden to be hunted from the beginning of Lent until August under pain of 40 s.
1789 G. White Nat. Hist. Selborne 16 Within these ten years one solitary grey hen was sprung by some beagles in beating for a hare.
1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 60/2 Accounts of hybrids between the Cock Pheasant and the Grey Hen.
1893 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. II 393 Tetrao tetrix—the Blackcock and Greyhen, as the sexes are with us respectively called.
1921 J. A. Thomson Mountain & Moorland v. 79 As they assembled they kept on calling—we suppose for the Greyhens to come to witness their jousting.
1984 M. Wharton Missing Will iii. 109 ‘What is the female of the blackcock?’ I was the only cadet in my battery who got the answer right (it is, of course, a greyhen).
2006 A. Bibby Wensleydale & Swaledale x. 143 Leks..reach their peak in April and May, when the greyhens are also present.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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