mother hen
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Mother_hen_with_chicks02.jpg/220px-Mother_hen_with_chicks02.jpg)
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
mother hen (plural mother hens)
- (literally) A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.
- (idiomatic) An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs.
Translations
female chicken
overprotective woman
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Verb
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- Alternative form of mother-hen
- 1990, Diane Ehrensaft, Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children:
- Instead, the very "mother henning" implicit in their choice of "nurturance" over "intimacy" was what the they thought uniquely characterized their relationship to their child.
- 2010, T.M. Nielsen, Equites, page 541:
- He's mother henning and driving me crazy.
- 2011, Suzanne Forster, Unfinished Business:
- That was probably why the girls mother henned her a bit and sometimes made her feel like the runt of the litter.