hen coopn.
/ˈhɛn kuːp/, U.S. /ˈhɛn ˌkup/ 1. A coop or pen in which chickens are kept; a henhouse. Also in early use: a cage or basket for carrying or keeping hens. Cf. chicken coop n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping birds > poultry-keeping > [noun] > enclosure for poultry > chicken-coop
mewc1387
hen coop1423
coop1530
hen cub1583
chicken coop1687
chicken house1750
chicken cavie?a1786
hen-rip1788
par1866
hover1907
1423 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 160 (MED) These been percelles of an henne coupe þat standeth yn þe ȝerd.
1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. v. ix. f. 207 An Asse (by chance) treads on the young mans fingers, that lay hidden vnder the Hen Coope.
1767 Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser 25 Dec. Fixed hen coops under a tiled shed.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. xv. 289 She stooped down to put the soaked bread under the hen-coop.
1965 Times 26 Aug. 8/7 She sent Thomas outside for eggs from the hen coop.
2018 Lethbridge (Alberta) Sun Times (Nexis) 21 Nov. a2 Jurisdictions which already allow for urban hen coops in backyards, such as Red Deer and Edmonton.
2. figurative. A place likened to a hen coop, esp. in being cramped, uncomfortable, or noisy.
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1792 S. Freeman & A.-J. Des Carrières tr. J. Boruwłaski Mem. (ed. 2) 124 Our vessel..was called the Little St. John, but the inhabitants of Guernsey changed its name, and called it a Hen-coop, which was by far a more proper appellation.
1833 F. A. Butler Jrnl. 10 May (1835) II. 184 I might come and have the first choice of a berth for the night, in the horrible hencoop allotted to the female passengers.
1935 ‘G. Orwell’ Clergyman's Daughter i. 46 It'll do you good to escape from the church hen-coop for a few hours.
1989 Economist 28 Jan. 27/1 From his 1960s concrete hencoop in Pimlico, Mr Ridley exercises more power than any minister but the residents of numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street.
2010 G. Burn Born Yesterday x. 186 Trying to find his way from his hen-coop of a room..to Waverley Station.
Compounds
As a modifier, in the sense ‘resembling or characteristic of a hen coop’, as in hen-coop laughter, hen-coop chatter, etc.
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1758 Things as they Are (ed. 3) 100 They may even take some sorry village, or hen-coop-fortification, whose name was before scarce known.
1898 Daily News 28 Sept. 5/3 The huge hen-coop crinoline disfigured the women.
1937 E. Sitwell I live under Black Sun 296 There came a sound of crazy hen-coop laughter.
2014 A. Murray Christmas at Thalstead Halt in D. Allen et al. Christmas Fireside Stories 78 The snort and clatter of the horses and the hen-coop chatter of voices.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1423