hen

noun

1. A female chicken (Gallus gallus), especially a sexually mature one kept for her eggs.

   “She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.”

2. A female of other bird species, particularly a sexually mature female fowl.

   “In Tain, north of Inverness, staff detected 11 males and at least seven hens – the highest number there since 2011.”

3. (uncommon)A female fish (especially a salmon or trout) or crustacean.

   “As spawning time approaches – autumn or very early winter in most rivers, though in some late-run streams salmon may spawn as late as January or February – the hen's colouration becomes first a matt-pewter and then a drab dark brown-grey. The cock fish, in contrast, begins to gain some brighter colours.”

4. (figuratively)A woman.

   “Hen, a woman. A cock and hen club; a club composed of men and women.”

5. (UK, figuratively, informal)A woman.
6. (UK, informal)A hen night.
7. (Scotland, informal)An affectionate term of address used to women or girls.

   “Don't cry, hen. Everything will be all right.”

8. The penis of a trans woman.

   “Coordinate term: cock”

9. (derogatory, figuratively, uncommon)A henlike person of either sex.
10. The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), a bivalve shellfish.
11. (obsolete)A large pewter pot used in a tavern.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)Synonym of mother-hen.

   “Once he had flared up, "If ever a man was henned, it's me!"”

   “Mammy henned the black workers into placing the trunks beside the girls.”

2. (dialectal)To throw.

adv

1. (dialectal, not-comparable)Hence.