henn.1
/hɛn/, U.S. /hɛn/, Scottish English /hɛn/ I. A female domestic chicken, and related senses.
1. The female of the domestic chicken, esp. one that lays eggs.The plural hens is sometimes used to mean ‘domestic chickens’ regardless of sex, because the females are more numerous and more economically important.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Phasianidae (pheasants, etc.) > hen or cock > [noun] > hen
henOE
Partletc1390
margery-prater1567
dunghill hen1611
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > fowls > [noun] > hen
gelinec1430
hena1450
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. i. 68 Oft seo brodige henn, þeah heo sarlice cloccige, heo tospræt hyre fyðera and þa briddas gewyrmð.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 36 Þe hen hwen ha haueð ileid ne con bute cakelin.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 38 Þe little þyeues þet steleþ..hire capons, hennen, frut of hire gardins.
a1450 in T. Austin Two 15th-cent. Cookery-bks. (1888) 14 Take Conynge, Hen, or Mawlard.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iv. f. 170v Fesantes..are better to be brought vp vnder a Henne.
1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia 18 Here will liue any beasts, as horses, goats, sheep, asses, hens, &c. as appeared by them that were carried thether.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 234 The Breath of such a Person would poison, and instantly kill a Bird; not only a small Bird, but even a Cock or Hen.
1866 E. J. S. Dicey Battle-fields of 1866 52 Geese and ducks and hens gabble before every farmhouse.
1907 Billboard 25 Feb. 111/3 In the summer he has sixty cows and several hundred hens working for him and he sells their product to the resorters.
1949 Huntly Express 6 May Stingy, miserable farmers who refused to give oats to hens.
2013 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 6 Mar. d4/2 When one of his hens lays an egg, it typically likes to come out of the nesting box and sing its ‘egg song’ to announce its delivery.
2.
a. With distinguishing word or words, denoting various birds other than chickens, esp. those that resemble chickens in some way.Used as a second element in the usual names of certain birds, esp. game birds and rails, for example heath-hen n. b, moorhen n. 2, and water hen n. Sometimes such names refer specifically to the female (cf. sense 2b), for example greyhen n., heath-hen n. a, and peahen n.arrish-hen, Cape hen, mallee hen, native hen, sage hen, etc.: see the first element.In some game birds the name of the male is in -cock, as heath-cock, peacock, etc.
ΚΠ
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxxvii. 244 Mettas..swa swa sint scilfixas finihte & ham [&] wilda hænna [L. gallinae domesticae et phasiani et perdices] & ealle þa fugelas þe on dunum libbað.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. lxxx. 1232 Iuuenal meneþ þat orix is a certein brid þat is most fatte... Orix is a bridde liche to an henne of Affrica.
c1450 in Mod. Philol. (1924) 21 387 Many a grene spekyng popyn jay..Hennys of Inde come fro brugys and gaunte.
1571 T. Fortescue tr. P. Mexia Foreste iii. iv. f. 119 The Foxe loueth well the Crowe, the Dawe also the Henne of India, and in fine the Larke.
1775 J. Cook Jrnl. 17 Jan. (1969) II. 622 The Oceanic birds were Albatross, Common Gulls and that sort which I call Port Egmont hens, Terns, Shags, Divers,..[etc.] such as are at the Cape of Good Hope.
1835 J. J. Audubon Ornithol. Biogr. III. 27 The Great Red-Breasted Rail, or Fresh-Water Marsh-Hen, Rallus Elegans,..is abundant in South Carolina.
1886 Cent. Mag. June 273/1 The hen of the prairie, namely..the pinnated grouse.
1972 K. Curry-Lindahl Let them Live viii. 328 The island hen (Porphyriornis nesiotis nesiotis) was a flightless moor hen confined to the main island of Tristan da Cunha, where it was wiped out about 1872, presumably by rats and pigs.
2003 Bird Keeper June 4/2 The peahen is a devoted mother, and will often carry the youngsters on her back or in the feathers of her wings.
b. The female of birds other than chickens.Cf. Compounds 2a, hen bird n. at Compounds 3.
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the world > animals > birds > [noun] > female
hen1324
1324 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 168 Partriche, fesant henne ant fesant cocke.
?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. vii. sig. fv I my selfe..haue seen the Cocke swanne kyll his henne, bicause she folowed an other cocke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 142 More iealous..then a Barbary cocke-pidgeon ouer his hen . View more context for this quotation
1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) I. ii. 201 The hen [of the blackcock] lays seldom more than six or seven eggs.
1829 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom VIII. 28 The male here described agrees with a bird brought by Capt. Hay, as the hen of the Fire-back Pheasant.
1958 C. A. Naether Bk. of Pigeon (ed. 4) iv. 55 He selects the champion cock in his loft and mates him to the best and most suitable hen for his Number One pair.
2003 Bird Keeper June 66/1 I bought myself a pair of eastern rosellas, a rubino hen and a normal cock.
II. A person likened to a female chicken.† 5. A female prostitute. Cf. earlier hen of the game at Phrases 5. Cf. cock bawd n. Obsolete.
3.
a. A woman; a wife. Now colloquial.See also old hen n. at old adj. Compounds 5a(b).In early use chiefly in figurative contexts, often explicitly contrasted with cock.In quot. ?1555 punning on cock of the game at cock n.1 and int. Phrases 2b(a).
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the world > people > person > woman > [noun]
wifeeOE
womaneOE
womanOE
queanOE
brideOE
viragoc1000
to wifeOE
burdc1225
ladyc1225
carlinec1375
stotc1386
marec1387
pigsneyc1390
fellowa1393
piecec1400
femalea1425
goddessa1450
fairc1450
womankindc1450
fellowessa1500
femininea1513
tega1529
sister?1532
minikinc1540
wyec1540
placket1547
pig's eye1553
hen?1555
ware1558
pussy?a1560
jade1560
feme1566
gentlewoman1567
mort1567
pinnacea1568
jug1569
rowen1575
tarleather1575
mumps1576
skirt1578
piga1586
rib?1590
puppy1592
smock1592
maness1594
sloy1596
Madonna1602
moll1604
periwinkle1604
Partlet1607
rib of man1609
womanship?1609
modicum1611
Gypsy1612
petticoata1616
runniona1616
birda1627
lucky1629
she-man1640
her1646
lost rib1647
uptails1671
cow1696
tittup1696
cummer17..
wife1702
she-woman1703
person1704
molly1706
fusby1707
goody1708
riding hood1718
birdie1720
faggot1722
piece of goods1727
woman body1771
she-male1776
biddy1785
bitch1785
covess1789
gin1790
pintail1792
buer1807
femme1814
bibi1816
Judy1819
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
wifie1823
craft1829
shickster?1834
heifer1835
mot1837
tit1837
Sitt1838
strap1842
hay-bag1851
bint1855
popsy1855
tart1864
woman's woman1868
to deliver the goods1870
chapess1871
Dona1874
girl1878
ladykind1878
mivvy1881
dudess1883
dudette1883
dudine1883
tid1888
totty1890
tootsy1895
floozy1899
dame1902
jane1906
Tom1906
frail1908
bit of stuff1909
quim1909
babe1911
broad1914
muff1914
manhole1916
number1919
rossie1922
bit1923
man's woman1928
scupper1935
split1935
rye mort1936
totsy1938
leg1939
skinny1941
Richard1950
potato1957
scow1960
wimmin1975
womyn1975
womxn1991
?1555 Image of Idlenesse xiii. sig. C.viv For beinge hym selfe a cocke of the game, he thought her [sc. a certeyne fayre Mistres] to be a henne of the same sorte, and trusted well to haue some iolly good treadynge by the way.
1611 T. Middleton & T. Dekker Roaring Girle sig. G 'Tis one of Hercules labours, to tread one of these Cittie hennes, because their cockes are stil crowing ouer them.
1821 P. Egan Life in London 278 He threw the Pocket Book over to his hen, saying, ‘Poll, my dear, it is a pretty article, and you may keep it for your own use.’
1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xx. 253 I suppose she's one of these hens whose husband ‘doesn't understand her’!
1941 N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Mar. 13/1 Two of those beauteous young hens caught in that ‘pad’ in a raid in Lower Harlem..are business students with nice social backgrounds.
2017 Daily Mail 13 Dec. The wee hen from Dumfries performed a zombie dance routine to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
b. Scottish colloquial. As a form of address for a girl or woman, typically as a term of affection or endearment.
ΚΠ
1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess i. 28 Then says to Nory, rest you bony hen.
a1835 J. Grant Tales of Glens (1869) 80 Ha'e ye sic a thing's a can'le, my thrifty hen?
1927 J. Corrie Shillin'-a-week Man in Scots Mag. July 250 Lizzie—Can I no' get oot noo, maw? Mrs. Paterson—Ay, rin awa oot, hen.
1996 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 8 Jan. 18 A woman came up to me..and shouted: ‘See you hen! You're the worst effin singer I've heard in my effin life!’
2011 A. McCall Smith Bertie plays Blues (2013) xxxiii. 127 Don't worry, hen. It's going to be fine.
4. A cowardly, timid, or spineless person; (also) anyone who adopts a subservient role, often explicitly contrasted with cock (cf. cock n.1 13). Cf. hen-hearted adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [noun] > coward(s)
coward?a1289
hen-hearta1450
staniel?a1500
pigeon?1571
cow1581
quake-breech1584
cow-baby1594
custard1598
chicken heart1602
nidget1605
hen?1613
faintling1614
white-liver1614
chickena1616
quake-buttocka1627
skitterbrooka1652
dunghill1761
cow-heart1768
shy-cock1768
fugie1777
slag1788
man of chaff1799
fainter1826
possum1833
cowardy, cowardy, custard1836
sheep1840
white feather1857
funk1859
funkstick1860
lily-liver1860
faint-heart1870
willy boy1895
blert1905
squib1908
fraid cat (also fraidy cat)c1910–23
manso1912
feartie1923
yellowbelly1927
chicken liver1930
boneless wonder1931
scaredy-cat1933
sook1933
pantywaist1935
punk1939
ringtail1941
chickenshit1945
candy-ass1953
pansy-ass1963
unbrave1981
bottler1994
?1613 S. Rowlands More Knaues Yet? sig. D2v It saues thy head from many a bloudy knocke, To play the Hen and let thy wife turne Cocke.
c1626 Dick of Devonshire (1955) 1683 One of ye [Spanish] soldiers..is somewhat bold with the English, and sayes th'are dainty Hennes.
c1690 Taylor's Lamentation (single sheet) Ever since then she bears such a sway, That I am forc'd her Laws to obey. She is the Cock and I am the Hen.
1866 J. Smith Merry Bridal 36 The sprightly barefoot Gutterbluids..invariably taunted their adversaries with being Hens, or Cowlies, in the numerous bickers that then took place.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 650 The Krumen are silly hens not to go and wipe out Liberia on shore.
1979 S. Khanna & K. L. Sadanah Prejudice of Ages 94 The principal, she found, was a sneak and a liar; her colleagues, a brood of cowardly hens, ready to forswear truth, justice and integrity for a smile from the authority.
ΚΠ
1632 R. Brome Northern Lasse i. v. sig. A4v Are you the Cock-bawd to the hen was here, ere while sir.
1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia iii. i. 45 An Ass is he not? He is a Ruffian, and Cock-bawd to that Hen.
a1790 H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash Langs. (1795) Hen, a woman, a whore.
1840 Satirist 13 Sept. (advt.) Larks! quoth my lady, and for supper, too—Give my lord hens, and for me a cock or two.
6. A woman celebrating the fact that she is soon to be married, typically at an event attended by her female friends and relatives; (also) a female friend or relative of the bride-to-be attending such an event. Cf. earlier hen party n., hen night n.Not in North American use, where the usual term is bachelorette (see bachelorette n.).
ΚΠ
1978 W. Russell in Times 10 Nov. 9/4 (title) Stags and hens.
1999 Sunday Mail (Queensland) (Nexis) 18 July 14 Rick is one of about 200 male strippers in Queensland who regularly get their gear off..at private parties for soon-to-be-married hens.
2006 Irish Times (Nexis) 5 Aug. (Mag.) 3 The last time I was on a hen night,..the reluctant hen didn't turn up.
2015 Irish Examiner (Nexis) 21 Nov. There's a nip in the air but the bride in L plates and her party of short-skirted hens are entirely immune.
III. Other senses.
7. Any of several edible bivalve molluscs: †(a) British regional a scallop of the genus Chlamys, and the surf clam, Spisula solida (obsolete); (b) North American (originally) the hard clam or quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, and (in later use) the Atlantic surf clam, S. solidissima.Cf. hen-fish n. (a) at Compounds 3, hen clam n., mud hen n. 2.The semantic motivation for this sense is unclear.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Asiphonida > family Unionidae > member of
musseleOE
palour1589
pearl mussel1607
hena1613
horse-mussel1626
clam1672
clamp1672
pearl shell1781
glam1797
naiad1829
naid1854
unionid1861
zebra mussel1866
hackleback1899
maple leaf1908
monkey-face1936
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Siphonida > sinu-pallialia > family Veneridae
Venus-shell1589
hena1613
sea-snapple1658
clam1672
clamp1672
nun1678
purr?1711
Venus purr1713
Venus1777
quahog1781
palourde1823
littleneck1854
venerid1861
a1613 G. Owen Descr. Penbrokshire (1892) 126 Perywinkles, hens and diuerse other shell fish [still in local use (Editor's note)].
1643 R. Williams Key into Lang. Amer. xxiv. 144 The second is black, inclining to blew, which is made of the shell of a fish, which some English call Hens, Poquauhock.
1778 E. M. da Costa Brit. Conchol. 200 Found in great plenty on the coast of Cornwall, and are much eaten..; they are vulgarly called Hens.
1783 R. Robertson Observ. Jail, Hosp., or Ship Fever 87 Two were added with indigestion, from eating raw clams or hens unwashed, last night.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Cape Cod (1865) v. 78 The sea-clam, or hen, was not easily obtained.
2008 B. Brennessel Good Tidings iii. 35 Surf clams, (Spisula solidissima), also called hens, sea clams, and giant clams, are large clams that are found in deep water.
8. The female of various fishes and invertebrates; esp. a female salmon, lobster, or crab.Cf. Compounds 2b, hen-fish n. (c) at Compounds 3, cock n.1 8b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [noun] > female
spawner1601
hen1747
rown1796
rawn1877
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > member of > female
hen1747
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > female lobster
hen1747
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.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Crab Louse, a species of louse peculiar to the human body; the male is denominated a cock, the female a hen.
1841 G. Johnston in W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Fishes (ed. 2) II. 367 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.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xi. 223 The lobster's usual breeding time is about August, when the ‘hen’ is seen with numerous berry-like eggs glued on to the swimmerets of her tail.
2017 Sun (Nexis) 16 Dec. (Sport section) 60 All fish are to be released up to May 31 and after that all hens should be returned along with cock fish over 10lb.
Phrases
ΚΠ
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 177 He yaf noght of that text a pulled hen.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 6856 I rekke not of pore men Her astate is not worth an hen.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 48 That hurtis ȝow nought worth a hen; ȝour husband payis for all.
P2. a hen with one chick (also chicken): used in various similes as the type of someone who is very anxious, overprotective, or easily flustered. Esp. in as busy as a hen with one chick: excessively busy or assiduous, esp. in dealing with small or trivial matters. [In quot. 1592 translating French empêché comme une poule qui n'a qu'un poulet, in a similar sense.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > acting vigorously or energetically [phrase] > acting fussily
as busy as a hen with one chick1592
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > care, protection, or charge > having care or custody (of) [phrase] > excessively protective or solicitous
as busy as a hen with one chick1592
a hen with one chick (also chicken)1592
1592 G. Delamothe Treasure French Toung 19 in French Alphabeth He is as busie as a henne that hath but one chicken.
1633 J. Shirley Wittie Faire One sig. D3v A Woman is more troubled with a little businesse, then some man with mannaging the troubles of a whole common wealth, it has beene a prouerbe, as busy as a Hen with one Chickin.
1658 R. Flecknoe Enigmaticall Characters 42 You cannot approach her [sc. a governess], but like a Hen with one Chicken, she clocks and bristles up her feathers presently, keeping such a fidel-fadle and tatling, as you would judge her fitter to teach Parrots talk.
1736 Weekly Misc. 9 Oct. I never was so sensible as now of the Significancy of the Old English Proverb: As busy as a Hen with one Chick.
1856 Yale Literary Mag. Dec. 89 Such men devote their time chiefly to the contemplation of their new found ‘honor’, and become more ‘fussy’ over it than a hen with one chicken.
1945 Emporia (Kansas) Gaz. 18 Dec. 4/5 Warren watched the bill like a hen with one chick all during its progress through Congress.
2012 Mail Tribune (Medford, Oregon) (Nexis) 18 Mar. I was already clucking and fussing like a hen with one chick.
P3. wet hen.
a. Used in similes and comparisons as the type of someone miserable, dejected, pathetic, or bedraggled. Cf. sense 4. [In early use after Italian gallina bagnata a timid, cowardly, or ineffectual person (early 16th cent. in this sense; lit. ‘wet hen’); compare also French poule mouillée (1658 in a similar sense).]
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1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes at Gallina bagnata A wet hen, id est, a milkesop, or freshwater souldier, or one that lookes like a drownd rat.
1660 P. Paravicino True Idioma Ital. Tongue sig. A7 Your brother has no wit, he is a wet henne [It. gallina bagnata].
1704 I. Sharpe Plain-dealing 37 Out upon you for a dastardly Fellow; you han't the Courage of a wet Hen.
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. xlvi. 128 The right honorable peer, to use a very homely, but expressive country phrase, looked as sad as a wet hen.
1917 A. G. Empey Over Top xvi. 124 I couldn't see his face, but the droop in his shoulders was enough. He looked like a wet hen.
1957 Threshold Winter 18 I began to feel as miserable as a wet hen.
2008 S. Lloyd Carbon Diaries: 2015 61 Anyway, it sure beats moping around here like a wet hen.
b. Used in similes and comparisons as a type of someone who is angry, outraged, or agitated. Esp. in (as) mad (also angry) as a wet hen: very angry.
ΚΠ
1737 A. Ramsay Coll. Scots Prov. iv. 8 As wanton as a wet Hen.
1823 J. Doddridge Logan 42 Every body that was not ax'd was mad as a wet hen.
1907 Amer. Mag. Feb. 339/1 He just looked at me and then flounced out, mad as a wet hen.
1969 Black Belt Dec. 38/1 Bloody and angry as a wet hen, Dickinson threw a fast roundhouse kick.
2018 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 3 Apr. It is dark, it is dank, it is cold, nothing spring like now or in the future. I am angry, fussy, as mad as a wet hen.
P4. hen-and-(the)-egg: used as a modifier, designating the apparent paradox posed by the question ‘Which came first: the hen or the egg?’ (cf. quot. 1603), expressing the problem of determining which of two entities or events should be considered the cause and which the effect when each appears to depend on the prior existence of the other. Frequently in hen-and-egg argument, hen-and-egg dilemma, hen-and-egg problem.Cf. chicken-and-(the-)egg at chicken n. Phrases 4, and see the note there for discussion of the history of this problem.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > [phrase] > chicken-and-the-egg
hen-and-egg1855
chicken-and-(the-)egg1857
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > resolving of problem, solution > [adjective] > incapable of being solved
insoluble1393
unresolvable1604
inextricable1613
indissolvable1637
unriddleable1647
irresolvable1660
unsolvible1664
insolvable1693
unsolvable1821
hen-and-egg1855
indissoluble1868
irresoluble1868
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 670 With this little question of the henne and the egge..we shaked the great frame and weightie fabricke of the generation of the whole world.]
1855 Boston Investigator 21 Mar. A solution a priori, one way or the other, is perfectly impossible. Like the hen and egg argument, yours can be reversed, and made to serve the purpose of its own refutation.
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.
a1963 L. MacNeice Astrol. (1964) ii. 39 The old hen-and-egg dilemma (did god or planet come first?).
2009 Mass Transit (Nexis) Dec. 20 It was kind of a hen and egg problem with looking for the first real project and establishing a local office.
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a1625 J. Fletcher Chances iv. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) 16/2 What should our hen o'th game else Do here without her?
1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. xxx. 109 I ever hated that a Dunghill-Cock should tread a Hen of the Game.
1706 Observator 16 Oct. There is a notorious Hen of the Game in Kent, that goes by the Name of Cock-Wickam.
1896 L. C. Cornford Capt. Jacobus ix. 129 Here is a kingdom set upon the hazard, and you think of nought but springing a hen o' the game.
ΚΠ
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Meleagrides, byrdes, whiche we doo calle hennes of Genny.
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 26/1 They are thought to be Hens of Guinny.
1734 A. Pope Satires of Horace ii. ii. 20 Yet Hens of Guinea full as good I hold [as pheasant], Except you eat the feathers, green and gold.
P7. hen of the wood also woods: (a) (the female of) any of several forest-dwelling gallinaceous birds; esp. the female capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus; cf. cock of the woods at cock n.1 and int. Phrases 1c(b); (b) a large edible polypore fungus, Grifola frondosa, found as a bracket fungus on decaying timber and credited with immune-stimulating and other health-promoting properties (also called maitake).
ΚΠ
1676 F. Willughby & J. Ray Ornithologiæ i. Pl. XXX (caption) Vrogallus fœmina. The Hen of ye wood or mountain.
1783 W. Marsden Hist. Sumatra 98 The..domestic hen (ayam), some with black bones, and some of the sort we call Freezeland or negro fowls; hen of the woods (ayam baroogo).
1836 Derby Mercury 30 Nov. A black Cock and Hen of the Woods (a bird now extinct in Great Britain,)..were sent.
1875 Bazaar, Exchange & Mart 2 Oct. 238/2 In the Vosges districts it [sc. Polyporus frondosus] is called, from its brown speckled appearance, the ‘Hen of the Woods’ (poule de bois) and ‘breeding hen’ (couveuse).
1946 H. M. Hall Ruffed Grouse iv. 14 The ruffed grouse is the hen of the woods.
1997 J. Updike Toward End of Time 306 One day he pointed out to me the ugly fungi that grow like monstrous tan brains on the lawn. He said, ‘Those are called hen-of-the-woods. They grow only in association with oak trees.’
2010 Independent 26 May 50/2 Recently people have started to ask about maitake mushrooms, which we call hen of the woods.
P8. U.S. to have (also get) a hen on: to have a clandestine plot or plan in development. Similarly there is a hen on: there is a plot afoot. Now rare.With reference to a nesting hen bringing her eggs to the point of hatching; cf. hatch v.1 5.
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1872 Portland (Indiana) Democrat 5 Sept. Go slow Marsby, there's a hen on.
1902 R. H. Tatlow & J. D. Crisp Orpah xx. 255 Nell's got a hen on now, but I'll not count any chickens until I hear the clink of the sure enough old yellow boys.
1921 P. B. Kyne Pride of Palomar xxx. 327 ‘He has a hen on.’ ‘Yes, and that hen will hatch a young bald-headed eagle to scratch your eyes out.’
1937 F. N. Litten Treasure Bayou xxiv. 194 Tully—you know, that lease hound from Beaumont—he's been hangin' round lately. He thinks there's a hen on.
1950 L. Floren Burnt Wagon Ranch xiii. 165 You two got a hen on?
Compounds
C1.
a. General use as a modifier (in sense 1), as in hen food, hen grease, hen trough, etc.See also hen egg n., hen scratch n., henwife n., etc.
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eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. lvi. 276 Gif mon syþ garleac on hennebroþe & selð drincan.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1131 Þæræfter swulten þa hennefugeles.
c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 80 (MED) Brenne hen bones and ey shellys.
1653 N. Culpeper Pharmacopœia Londinensis 152 Oyl of sweet Almonds, Linseed Oyl, Oyl of Eggs, Oyl of Saint Johns-wort, Hen-grease, Ducks grease, Goose grease.
1667 W. Petty in T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. 290 Allum is used in the dressing of..white Leather, the which it dryeth, as the Salt of Hen-dung doth in Ox-hides.
1702 J. Cunningham in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 23 1207 A small frame about 3 or 4 foot long not much larger than a Hen-trough.
1889 Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig & Courier 19 Jan. Holmes and Co. will erect buildings for the manufacture of phosphate from sea weed, and the grinding of shells for hen food.
1955 North Amer. Rev. Dec. 9/1 Rattlesnakes came down off the hilltops and we'd find them drinking out of the hen trough.
2018 Canberra Times (Nexis) 9 Sept. 13 Sacks that have held wheat or hen food are also excellent, though do stab a few holes in the base of them.
b. As a modifier (in sense 1), designating structures and enclosures where hens are kept, as in hen-hutch, hen-loft, hen-run, etc.See also hen coop n., hencote n., henhouse n., hen pen n. at Compounds 3.Some of these compounds have parallel equivalents with chicken: see chicken coop n., chicken run n., etc.
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1581 S. Batman tr. K. Lykosthenes Doome 367 The house standeth in a Henne yarde agaynste the hotte Sunne ouer againste the vitayling house of the Hospitall.
1592 T. Nashe Pierce Penilesse (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. I2 Hauing no roome for his hen-loft, but the Testor of his bed.
1779–80 J. Roberts in E. Capell Notes & Var. Readings to Shakespeare II. iii. 90/1 His father stole the goose out of the hen-loft.
1853 J. W. Carlyle Let. 27 Dec. in Coll. Lett. T. Carlyle & J. W. Carlyle (1981) XXVIII. 358 It will surely be a comfortable reflection for you in coming home this time, that you will look out over a perfectly empty hencourt.
1876 Scribner's Monthly Apr. 813/2 The best places in which to look for Jacobean sideboards..are found to be the hen-yard.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 3 Aug. 2/1 Eulogistic accounts of his hen-run and his kitchen-garden.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 121/1 The breeders have been housed in the henyard previously used for layers.
2014 M. Atherton There & Back Again i. 6 The garden is wooden-fenced on one side, with a hen hutch in the middle of the lawn.
c. With participles, agent nouns, and verbal nouns, forming compounds in which hen expresses the object of the underlying verb, as in hen farmer, henkeeper, hen-keeping, hen-killer, etc. [Recorded earlier in surnames, as Adam le Henmongere (1263, showing henmonger : see note at monger n.1), Henr. Henbyter (1297, showing henbiter).]
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1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Adventurier An idle loitering rogue; a hedge-creeper, henne-killer, sheet-stealer.
1847 Prairie Farmer Feb. 64/2 We shall hereafter insert one or two others, exhibiting some features which are left out in this, so as to supply the farmer and the hen fancier with sufficient light on the subject.
1849 Prairie Farmer May 162/1 Some discussion as to this subject..has grown out of a statement made by us regarding the experience of Dr. Barstow and ourselves in hen keeping.
1900 Badminton Mag. May 617 A stout hill fox he most undoubtedly was..but none the less, on the sworn testimony of all the farmers who were present, the most notorious old hen-killer in the country side.
1997 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 29 Mar. 17 Now hen farmer Amanda Fielder is demanding compensation from the RAF.
2012 Poultry World Feb. 24/1 As a writer of several best-selling hen-keeping books, a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph and chairperson of the nearly 10,000-strong Henkeepers' Association, I use every means at my disposal to support those who keep poultry for pleasure.
d. Forming adjectives with the sense ‘that has (a) henlike ——’, by combining with a noun + -ed.
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1785 T. Pennant Arctic Zool. II. 498 [The Pied-bill grebe] is called in the first [sc. New York], the Hen-beaked Widgeon, or Water Witch.
1855 Poultry Chron. 3 44/1 A well-known Yorkshire amateur described them to me as ‘bad hen-feathered! a little bit approaching to the saddle-feather, and yet neither one thing or other.’
1868 C. Darwin Variation Animals & Plants I. 252 A hen-tailed sub-breed of Hamburghs was recently much esteemed.
1892 D. Jordan Within Hour of London (ed. 2) 153 They know all the fowl, web-footed and hen-footed.
1946 C. W. Smith S. Afr. Poultry Bk. (ed. 2) xiii. 197 The peculiarity of this breed is that the cock is ‘hen-feathered,’ that is, his feathers grow exactly like the hen's.
2006 Country Life 27 July 55/1 The piping and whistling of what the old gunners call ‘hen-footed fowl’.
C2. As a modifier, with the sense ‘that is a female’.
a. Of birds; see senses 1, 2b.Cf. hen bird n. at Compounds 3.
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the world > animals > birds > [adjective] > female
hena1500
jenny1600
a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 73 (MED) Henchekyns, surlens, eyren.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Ælian Reg. Hyst. ix. f. 86v Taurosthenes tooke a pigeon out of her nest.., which hen pigeon hee tooke out of Aegina.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall 329 Soon after we got a Hen-sparrow.
1818 J. Keats Endymion iii. 155 The hen-dove shall not hatch Her ready eggs.
1941 S. Cloete Hill of Doves xxiii. 462 He thought of a hen ostrich squatting in season while the cock..with hot blood danced before her.
2002 J. McGahern That they may face Rising Sun (2003) 111 Out of a corner of an eye he saw..a hen-pheasant leading her small band of young across the swards.
b. Of fishes and invertebrates, esp. salmon and lobsters (see sense 8).Cf. hen-fish n. (c) at Compounds 3.
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the world > animals > family unit > [adjective] > female
femalea1398
jenny1600
hen1768
1768 Mr. Travis in Penny Cycl. (1834) II. 513/2 Hen lobsters are found in berry at all times of the year.
1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log 21 The hen crab is known from the male by her much wider waistcoat.
1964 Financial Times 7 July 18/8 Hen-lobsters have, as it were, child-bearing hips; they're broad where the male is slender.
2016 Daily Mirror (Ireland) (Nexis) 9 Dec. 14 They fear significant numbers of hen salmon carrying eggs were killed.
C3. † hen corn n. Obsolete (originally) wheat of an inferior grade or type; (in later use) wheat used to feed poultry.† hen-driver n. Obsolete rare the hen harrier, Circus cyaneus.† hen frigate n. Obsolete a ship dominated by the captain's wife. [ < hen n.1 (compare sense 3) + frigate n., probably as a shortening of henpecked frigate (see henpecked adj. 2).] † hen-harm n. Obsolete rare the hen harrier, Circus cyaneus.† hen's bill n. Obsolete common sainfoin, Onobrychis viciifolia.Chiefly in lists of alternative names for the plant.
hen-balk n. English regional (northern) and Scottish a rafter or beam in a henhouse, barn, etc., upon which hens may perch or roost; (also) a place where hens roost, a henhouse; cf. balk n.1 11.
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1594 Inventory 2 Nov. in R. W. Ambler et al. Farmers & Fishermen (1987) 97 The horse crybb and heck and hen balks.
1691 J. Ray Catal. N. Country Words in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 135 Hen-bawks, a Hen Roost, from the Bawks of which it consists.
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Hen-baak, -balk, -boak, a hen roost.
1994 C. Upton et al. Surv. Eng. Dial.: Dict. & Gram. Hen-baulk, a perch for hens.
hen bird n. a female bird, esp. a female chicken or game bird.In quot. ?1577 used as a term of endearment.
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Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 401 Pypyn, or ȝyppe, as henn byrdys, pipio, pipulo.
?1577 Misogonus ii. iv. in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 214 Ahe mine owne henbourde I must nedes lay the oth lipps well vauntid.
1579 T. Newton in W. Bullein Bulwarke of Defence (new ed.) f. 78 Partriches wil bynd the belly, and do nourish muche, the Cockes bee better then the Henne Byrdes.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) i. xv. 71 And if you would haue them all Henne-birds, then set such egges as are more round and blunt, for the long and sharpe-pointed ones are commonly Cock-birds.
1747 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. Birds II. 114 I have also observed the Hen Birds of a great Number of Species to be of a Brown Or Clayey Colour.
1909 J. Lea Romance Bird Life 39 It was curious and amusing to see a pair in some cases, the hen-bird wildly rushing away, the mate in mad pursuit.
2009 J. A. Coyne Why Evol. is True vi. 166 A dozen male birds of the same age—domestic fowls, common pheasants, or gold pheasants, for instance—should be chosen, all known to be acceptable to the hen birds.
hen blindness n. [after Russian kurjač′ja slepota night-blindness (apparently first attested slightly later in this sense: 1798 or earlier; now usually kurinaja slepota)] now rare the disorder of human vision characterized by abnormally reduced visual acuity in dim light (which is typical of hens and most other birds); = night-blindness n.
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1795 Med. Commentaries for 1794 Decade 2nd 9 284 (heading) Observations on the Kuritsha Slepota, or Hen Blindness of Russia.
1822 J. M. Good Study Med. III. 204 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.
1991 R. Rubin tr. D. Omer Teheran Operation xii. 168 Whenever I looked at them I recalled the ‘hen blindness’ from which the prisoners in the Russian internment camps had suffered.
hen-brained adj. daft, silly, empty-headed; cf. hen-headed adj., chicken-brained adj.
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1889 Dunstan (N.Z.) Times 19 Apr. Other hen-brained men argue that if the miner does not get gold he has no duty to pay.
1965 A. Garner Elidor xix. 147 You landed us in enough trouble yesterday with your hen-brained ideas.
2016 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 28 Dec. The hen-brained policy was derided by parents and the media as ‘political correctness gone mad’.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > wheat > types of wheat grain or plant
spelta1000
farc1420
ador?1440
flaxen wheat?1523
Peak-wheat?1523
red wheat?1523
white wheat?1523
duck-bill wheat1553
zea1562
alica1565
buck1577
amelcorn1578
horse-flower1578
tiphe1578
pollard1580
rivet1580
Saracen's corn1585
French wheat1593
Lammas-wheat1594
starch corn1597
St. Peter's corn1597
frumenty1600
secourgeon1600
polwheat1601
duck-wheat1611
kidneys of wheat1611
ograve wheat1616
soft wheat1640
cone-wheat1677
Lammas1677
Poland wheat1686
Saracen corn1687
pole rivet1707
Smyrna wheat1735
hard wheat1757
hen corn1765
velvet wheat1771
white straw1771
nonpareil1805
thick-set wheat1808
cone1826
farro1828
Polish wheat1832
velvet-ear wheat1837
sarrasin1840
mummy wheat1842
snowdrop1844
Red Fife1857
flint-wheat1859
dinkel1866
thick-set1875
spring1884
macaroni wheat1901
einkorn1904
marquis1906
durum1908
emmer1908
hedgehog wheat1909
speltoid1939
1765 C. Varlo Treat. Agric. ii. iii. 150 What there is will be little better than what we call hen-corn, namely small and bad.
1790 Trans. Soc. Arts 8 32 Wheat sown too long on the same spot, without changing the seed, will generally become smutt and hen-corn.
1834 Rep. Select Comm. Sale of Corn 26 in Parl. Papers (H.C. 517) VII. 1 A bushel of wheat would tell you nothing unless you knew the weight; and..you would not know whether it was hen-corn, or what corn it was?
1876 J. Walker How to farm with Profit 64 When the chickens are a week old, bread may be dispensed with, and they will do very well on hen-corn.
1928 Tamworth Herald 7 Jan. 1 (advt.) For pigs, poultry, horses and cattle... Pure barley meal, best mixed hen corn, poultry wheat.
hen do n. (originally and chiefly British) a celebration for a woman who is about to get married, attended by her female friends and relations; a hen party.
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1997 Scotl. on Sunday 1 June (Spectrum section) 4/2 It's becoming more expensive to participate in a hen or stag do than to attend the wedding itself.
1999 Derby Evening Tel. (Nexis) 5 Feb. (Showbiz section) 3 There are stag nights and hen dos, drunken crying girls and gallons of booze everywhere.
2014 Scotsman (Nexis) 6 June 12 A hen do which used to be one night out is now a weekend or more, meaning friends have to fork out for flights, accommodation, meals.
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1674 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation ii. 77 Of inferiour sort there are these:..The Forked Kite and bold Buzzard, The Hen-driver, &c.
hen-fish n. †(a) any of various bivalve molluscs (see sense 7) (obsolete); (b) any of various marine fishes; esp. the lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus (cf. sea-hen n. 1); (c) a female fish.
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1603 G. Owen tr. Horace Satire ii. iv, in Descr. Pembrokeshire (1892) i. xv. 125 Henfishe [L. peloris] best are in Lucrina Lake.
1846 4th Ann. Rep. Fisheries Ireland 85/2 (table) 1 Hen fish, heavy.
1854 Proc. Lit. & Philos. Soc. Liverpool 8 36 Mactra Solida... This, and all the other species of Bivalve Mollusks, not sold for edible purposes, are called locally ‘hen-fish’ by the fishermen.
1859 J. Richardson Yarrell's Hist. Brit. Fishes (ed. 3) I. 541 It [sc. the Bib or Pout] is brought to Belfast Market from the Antrim and Down coasts, under the name of Hen-fish, and in Galway Bay is called Crow-fish.
1979 Gazette (Montreal) 8 May 54/2 It'll do the stocks of walleye in Lake St. Louis..little good when the big hen fish are yanked right off the spawning beds.
2016 S. Chester Arctic Guide 396/1 Lumpfish Cyclopterus lumpus Also: Hen-fish, Lumpsucker, Seehase, Grosse poule de mer, [etc.].
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?1760 Apol. Life Mr. Bampfylde-Moore Carew (ed. 5) 339 Hen-frigat [?1750 Hen-peck'd Frigat], whose commanders and officers are absolutely sway'd by their wives.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word) Hen frigate..a sea phrase..applied to a ship, the captain of which had his wife on board, supposed to command him.
hen fruit n. (also hen's fruit) slang (chiefly U.S., Australian, and New Zealand) (hen) eggs; cf. cackle-berry n. at cackle n. 4.
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the world > food and drink > food > eggs > [noun] > hen's egg
egg805
hen eggeOE
cockneyc1390
hen fruit1844
cackle-berry1916
1844 Vincennes (Indiana) Gaz. 4 May Eggs are called in the west by extremely modest people, ‘hen fruit’. Oh! horror! how nice!
1888 Freeport (Illinois) Daily Jrnl. 13 Dec. It looks as though somebody was trying to corner the egg market, as hen fruit is very scarce.
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’.
2017 Bay Post (Batemans Bay, Austral.) (Nexis) 29 Nov. A number of youths..pelted him with eggs. Whether the hen-fruit was green or over-ripe makes very little difference, the action was a decidedly cruel one.
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1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Ian le blanc, a Hen-harme, or white Kite.
hen-headed adj. daft, silly, or scatty; cf. hen-brained adj., chicken-headed adj.
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1700 Let. June in E. Cruickshanks et al. House of Commons (2002) IV. 805 I never will do like hen-headed James, Run away and throw my Great Seal in the Thames.
1843 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 7 Oct. Your hen-headed people assume a wrong position, and complain that others will not accommodate themselves to their prejudices.
1868 A. R. W. Curtis & D. S. Curtis Spirit of Seventy-six 11 Jane Smith..lost her reckoning, and ran aground on Cape Cod. Jane always was a hen-headed thing !
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.
2016 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 12 Apr. But isn't it ludicrous and hen-headed to apply the same generalisations to, say, the $2000-a-night ‘chatelaines’..who advertise themselves online?
hen pen n. an enclosure in which poultry are kept; a hen coop.
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1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. v. x. f. 208v A Coope or Hen pen, wherein she vsed to keepe her Pullen.
1863 ‘G. Hamilton’ Gala-days 345 I..went out to the hen-pen and brought in a little auburn chicken.
1901 Inglenook 5 Jan. 1/3 A farmer who lives near Miramachi found the fox in his hen pen one morning and kicked it to death with his heavy boots.
2015 J. Bate T. Hughes i. 26 The surrounding fields were dotted with smallholders' hen pens.
hen plant n. either of two plantains, ribwort plantain, Plantago lanceolata, and greater plantain, P. major.Now only in lists of alternative names for these plants. [Perhaps so called on account of being used as food for chickens.]
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1870 A. di San Giorgio Catalogo Poliglotto delle Piante 393 Plantago lanceolata..Eng. Ribwort. Hen-plant. Plantain Ribwort... Plantago major..Eng. Plantain, common. Henplant, great. Waybread, greater.
1921 Ladies' Home Jrnl. May 105/1 Everybody knows the plantain. Perhaps you are more familiar with it as the hen plant, for it is frequently called by that name.
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1597 J. Gerard Herball Table Eng. Names sig. Eeeee4 Hens bill, looke Onobrychis.
1685 G. Meriton Nomenclatura Clericalis 200 Hens bill. Onobrychis.
1924 Torreya 24 49 Onobrychis onobrychis... Its popular names are Sanfoin, cock's-head, hen's-bill.
hen's race n. chiefly Irish English a short distance; cf. race n.1 5a.
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1847 Albion 24 Apr. 196/1 I am a simple ignorant fellow, who never was a hen's race from home in my life.
1869 P. Kennedy Evenings in Duffrey xxi. 290 What hurt me feelins was, dat dey should take de liberty of bringin' de name o' your honour widin a hen's race o' deir dirty mouts.
1939 P. V. Carroll White Steed ii, in White Steed & Coggerers 151 I'll run down and tell her myself, Canon. It's only a hen's race and she'll tell the others.
2007 Independent 4 Aug. (Mag.) 39/1 The address, St George Street, is just off Hanover Square, a hen's race from Regent Street.
hen-toed adj. and adv. British regional (a) adj. having toes or feet that turn inwards; cf. pigeon-toed adj. 1, chicken-toed adj.; (b) adv. turning the toes or feet inwards.
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1841 Northern Star & Leeds Gen. Advertiser 30 Oct. A beauteous and valiant band, truly..and all led on, too, by the hen-toed turnspit of the Greenock Advertiser.
1955 I. Peebles Ashes 36 He stands at the wicket rather hen-toed.
2014 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Nexis) 1 Mar. 20 I run hen-toed, fall over—I end up smiling at people and looking at stuff and trying to do three things at once.
hen weekend n. a social event taking place over a weekend and attended only by women, esp. one organized as a celebration for a woman who is about to get married; cf. sense 6.Not in North American use.
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1989 Guardian 31 Jan. 38/2 For 30 years the men of Slaithwaite in Yorkshire have enjoyed an annual chaps-only trip to Wembley. Now the women are making a small stand against male chauvinism with a hen weekend to Blackpool.
1995 Sunday Times (Nexis) 9 July Her hen weekend in Monte Carlo.
2005 Daily Tel. 8 Mar. 7/4 She had spent almost £5,000 on the hen weekend and other wedding preparations.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
henn.2
/hɛn/, U.S. /hɛn/ English regional (northern).† 1. to drink the hen: to attend a celebration or drinking party in honour of a newly married couple, typically held at the expense of the bridegroom at a local public house or inn. Later also to drink the hen silver (cf. hen silver n. at Compounds). Obsolete.
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1794 A. Shackleton Diary 12 May (W. Yorks. Archive Service, Bradford: 48D82) William Smith and Betty Wilkinson was wed about a half past eight o'clock this M[orning]. 7½ Went to Keighley to help drink the hen.
1838 Leeds Mercury 8 Dec. It has long been the custom for the bridegroom to give something for the purpose of supplying those who ask it with ale, or spirituous liquor, which is called drinking the hen.
1888 Leeds Mercury 17 Nov. 8/7 There exists to this day the quaint old Craven custom of ‘Drinking the Hen Silver’.
2. Money traditionally given by a bridegroom or a bride on the completion of their marriage ceremony to enable parishioners to drink the couple's health, typically at a local pub or inn. Obsolete except in hen silver n. at Compounds.
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1824 W. Carr Horæ Momenta Cravenæ 83 Hen, Money given, by the bride or bridegroom, on the eve after marriage, to their poor neighbours, to enable them to drink their health.
1859 Notes & Queries 17 Sept. 239/1 On the evening of the wedding day the young men of the village call upon the bridegroom for a hen—meaning money for refreshments.
Compounds
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1836 Bradford Observer 18 Feb. 22/3 The ‘Hen-Drinking’ introduced him into a career of drunken madness.
1859 Notes & Queries 17 Sept. 239/1 There is yet another [Yorkshire marriage custom], viz. the hen drinking.
1873 All Year Round 27 Sept. 514/2 It is a wedding custom in the West Riding for the bridegroom to provide what is termed a ‘hen-drinking’, a tea in honour of the bride.
hen silver n. now historical money traditionally given by a bridegroom or a bride on the completion of their marriage ceremony, to enable parishioners to drink the couple's health, typically at a local pub or inn; cf. sense 2.In some regions, the churchyard or chapel gate was blocked or tied shut during the wedding service by parishioners, who requested hen silver from the married couple in return for allowing them to pass.
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1832 Westmorland Gaz. 3 Nov. In the drinking bout, hen silver, &c. we could find neither wit nor humour.
1904 Preston Herald 20 Jan. 4/5 It was stated that in order to collect ‘hen silver’ from a newly-married couple at Grindleton, they placed a ladder across the highway.
1954 Daily Mirror 23 Oct. 7/2 At marriages in these dales the chapel gates are tied and the bride and groom pay a toll called hen-silver. The money provides free drinks at the local for the villagers.
2014 R. A. Houston Bride Ales & Penny Weddings 8 In the north of England young men of a village might extract ‘ball-money’ or ‘hen silver’ from the bridegroom, and insult, play tricks on, or inhibit the passage of those who did not pay.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† henadv.
α. early Old English hionane, Old English heonane (rare), Old English heonenne (rare), Old English heonone, late Old English eonene, late Old English–early Middle English (chiefly south-west midlands and south-western) heonne, early Middle English hennene, early Middle English heonene (chiefly south-west midlands), early Middle English hinene, early Middle English hinne, early Middle English hirne (probably transmission error), early Middle English honne, early Middle English hvnne, Middle English hanne, Middle English henne, Middle English hoenne (south-west midlands), Middle English hunne.
β. Old English geonon (transmission error), Old English heanon, Old English heonun, Old English hion (transmission error), Old English hionan, Old English hionon, Old English (rare)–early Middle English henon, Old English–early Middle English chiefly south-west midlands heonan, Old English (rare)–early Middle English heonen (chiefly south-west midlands), Old English–early Middle English chiefly south-west midlands heonon, late Old English henan, early Middle English henen, early Middle English hennen, early Middle English hennon (in copy of Old English charter), early Middle English heonnen (south-west midlands), early Middle English heonum (perhaps transmission error), early Middle English hinnen, early Middle English honen, early Middle English honon, early Middle English hunnen, early Middle English hynen; N.E.D. (1898) also records a form early Middle English honnen.
γ. Old English heana (Northumbrian), Old English hena (Northumbrian), Old English heona (Northumbrian), Old English hiona (Northumbrian), Old English (Northumbrian and in compounds)–early Middle English (south-west midlands) heone, early Middle English hine, early Middle English hone, Middle English (1800s English regional (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire)) hen, Middle English hene.
Obsolete (English regional (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire) in later use).
From this time or place; hence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [adverb] > away from some thing or place > from this place
heneOE
hethenc1175
hethenwardc1175
hethenforthc1200
henwardc1225
hencec1300
hynea1400
hynewarda1400
hencefrom1596
herefrom1596
here-hence1669
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > from now or henceforth
fortha700
heneOE
henforthOE
forwardOE
anovenOE
yetOE
downwardc1175
forthwardc1175
furthermorea1300
henforthwardc1300
forne14..
henceforwardc1330
henforwardc1330
hencefortha1375
henceforthwardc1384
hencec1390
furtherwarda1400
forwardsc1400
hyneforwardc1400
henceforwardsa1425
even-forthc1425
forth on1474
henceforthon1490
hynea1500
froforth1536
hyneforth1570
downwards1584
towards1587
here-hence1592
whenceforth1658
whenceforwarda1661
onward1667
onwards1732
from here on out1867
as of now1902
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > [adverb] > from this place
heneOE
hethenc1175
hethenwardc1175
henwardc1230
hencec1300
hynea1400
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > debate, disputation, argument > putting forward for discussion > [adverb] > for a reason
heneOE
hence1571
α.
β. eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) xcii. 4 (2) Parata sedis tua, Deus, ex tunc a saeculo tu es : gearu seld ðin God nu hionan from weorulde ðu earð.OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) ix. 24 Gað heonun [c1200 Hatton gað heonen; L. recedite].a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 161 Seðen hie henen wenden.c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 2977 Heonnen [c1300 Otho hinene] he wule buȝen in-to Bruttæine.γ. OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke iv. 9 Si filius dei es, mitte te hinc deorsum : gif sunu Godes arð asend ðeh heona uel ðona aduna [OE Rushw. Gospels hiona uel ðona ofdune].a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) l. 20388 I was farrer hen..fferre out in anoþer lond.c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 9 And bryng þi lyf to good endyng Here and hen.c1460 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Laud) l. 18080 Do now go hen fro me saton.1846 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Hen,..(3) Hence. Still in use in Lincolnshire.eOE Metres of Boethius (partly from transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xiv. 9 Ne mot he þara hyrsta hionane lædan of ðisse worulde wuhte þon mare, hordgestreona, ðonne he hiðer brohte.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xvii. 20 Gyf ge hæfdon geleafan..& ge cwædon to þissum munte, far heonone, þonne ferde he.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 11 We moten heonene feren.
c1300 St. Michael (Harl.) in T. Wright Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841) 134 More..Than hit beo hunne to the mone.
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) l. 238 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 226 Þat is hunne meni a myle.
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iv. l. 1246 Þat day is not fer henne.
a1500 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent (1924) 56 Naked and poure henne we shul fare.
Compounds
henforth adv. from now onwards; henceforth.Frequently with preceding redundant from.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > from now or henceforth
fortha700
heneOE
henforthOE
forwardOE
anovenOE
yetOE
downwardc1175
forthwardc1175
furthermorea1300
henforthwardc1300
forne14..
henceforwardc1330
henforwardc1330
hencefortha1375
henceforthwardc1384
hencec1390
furtherwarda1400
forwardsc1400
hyneforwardc1400
henceforwardsa1425
even-forthc1425
forth on1474
henceforthon1490
hynea1500
froforth1536
hyneforth1570
downwards1584
towards1587
here-hence1592
whenceforth1658
whenceforwarda1661
onward1667
onwards1732
from here on out1867
as of now1902
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) i. 185 Ic nelle heonunforð [a1225 Vesp. A.xxii henon forð] mancyn mid wætere adrencan.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) viii. 21 Nelle ic nateshwon awyrgean ða eorðan heononforð for mannum.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 170 To be hise frendis from henneforþ.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 20 (MED) Werfore fro hene forþ be wel bisy abowt.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries xvi. f. ccxxviv Let hym moue hym nomore in the matter from henforth, for yf he doe, it shalbe no counsell.
henforthward adv. from now onwards; henceforth, henceforward.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > from now or henceforth
fortha700
heneOE
henforthOE
forwardOE
anovenOE
yetOE
downwardc1175
forthwardc1175
furthermorea1300
henforthwardc1300
forne14..
henceforwardc1330
henforwardc1330
hencefortha1375
henceforthwardc1384
hencec1390
furtherwarda1400
forwardsc1400
hyneforwardc1400
henceforwardsa1425
even-forthc1425
forth on1474
henceforthon1490
hynea1500
froforth1536
hyneforth1570
downwards1584
towards1587
here-hence1592
whenceforth1658
whenceforwarda1661
onward1667
onwards1732
from here on out1867
as of now1902
c1300 St. Francis (Laud) l. 105 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 56 (MED) Segge ich mot mi pater-noster heonne-forthþeward i-wis.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Philipp. iii. 1 Henne forthward, my britheren, haue ȝe ioye in the Lord.
a1425 (a1400) Northern Pauline Epist. (1916) Eph. vi. 10 (MED) Fro heneforþeward be ȝee comfortid in oure lord.
henforthwards adv. from now onwards; henceforth, henceforward.
ΚΠ
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 956 Him we kennið..heonne forðwardes.
henforward adv. from now onwards; henceforth, henceforward.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adverb] > from now or henceforth
fortha700
heneOE
henforthOE
forwardOE
anovenOE
yetOE
downwardc1175
forthwardc1175
furthermorea1300
henforthwardc1300
forne14..
henceforwardc1330
henforwardc1330
hencefortha1375
henceforthwardc1384
hencec1390
furtherwarda1400
forwardsc1400
hyneforwardc1400
henceforwardsa1425
even-forthc1425
forth on1474
henceforthon1490
hynea1500
froforth1536
hyneforth1570
downwards1584
towards1587
here-hence1592
whenceforth1658
whenceforwarda1661
onward1667
onwards1732
from here on out1867
as of now1902
c1330 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Auch.) l. 593 Henne forward ne reche y me Of mi liif, whare it be.
a1500 (c1400) Vision of Tundale (Adv.) (1843) l. 2292 Fro syn henforward thou the absteyne.
1796 S. Lee Almeyda iii. ii. 67 Endu'd of heav'n! it does indeed inspire thee! And be my life, or long, or short, it waits Henforward on thy will!
hensith n. departure from life, death; cf. sithe n.1 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [noun]
hensithOE
qualmOE
bale-sithea1000
endingc1000
fallOE
forthsitheOE
soulingOE
life's endOE
deathOE
hethensithc1200
last end?c1225
forthfarec1275
dying1297
finec1300
partingc1300
endc1305
deceasec1330
departc1330
starving1340
passingc1350
latter enda1382
obita1382
perishingc1384
carrion1387
departing1388
finishmentc1400
trespassement14..
passing forthc1410
sesse1417
cess1419
fininga1425
resolutiona1425
departisona1450
passagea1450
departmentc1450
consummation?a1475
dormition1483
debt to (also of) naturea1513
dissolutionc1522
expirationa1530
funeral?a1534
change1543
departure1558
last change1574
transmigration1576
dissolving1577
shaking of the sheets?1577
departance1579
deceasure1580
mortality1582
deceasing1591
waftage1592
launching1599
quietus1603
doom1609
expire1612
expiring1612
period1613
defunctiona1616
Lethea1616
fail1623
dismissiona1631
set1635
passa1645
disanimation1646
suffering1651
abition1656
Passovera1662
latter (last) end1670
finis1682
exitus1706
perch1722
demission1735
demise1753
translation1760
transit1764
dropping1768
expiry1790
departal1823
finish1826
homegoing1866
the last (also final, great) round-up1879
snuffing1922
fade-out1924
thirty1929
appointment in Samarra1934
dirt nap1981
big chill1987
OE Judgement Day I 86 Him þæt þonne geleanað lifes waldend, heofona hyrde, æfter heonansiþe godum dædum.
c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 198 We sceolen æfre ȝemunen..ures heonensiþes, and we næfre æft ne wendæþ hider on worlde.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 185 Sorehful is ure hider cume, and sorilich ure henen sið.
Derivatives
henward adj. and adv. (a) adj. that goes away, passing, transitory; (b) adv. away from here, hence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
the world > space > direction > [adverb] > away from some thing or place > from this place
heneOE
hethenc1175
hethenwardc1175
hethenforthc1200
henwardc1225
hencec1300
hynea1400
hynewarda1400
hencefrom1596
herefrom1596
here-hence1669
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > [adverb] > from this place
heneOE
hethenc1175
hethenwardc1175
henwardc1230
hencec1300
hynea1400
OE Blickling Homilies 115 We..gecnawan magon þæt þeos world is scyndende & heononweard.
OE Genesis A (1931) 1431 Holm wæs heononweard; hæleð langode.., hwonne hie of nearwe ofer nægledbord ofer streamstaðe stæppan mosten.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 876 Me longeð heoneward.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 52 Aris up. hihe þe heonewart.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1eOE
n.21794adv.eOE