"mother hen" meaning in English

See mother hen in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-mother hen.ogg [Australia] Forms: mother hens [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} mother hen (plural mother hens)
  1. (literally) A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks. Tags: literally Translations (female chicken): lloca [feminine] (Catalan), Glucke [feminine] (German), tyúkanyó (Hungarian), kotlós (Hungarian), cloșcă (Romanian), gallina [feminine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-mother_hen-en-noun-I85Wh0pS Disambiguation of 'female chicken': 96 4
  2. (idiomatic) An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch. Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): People Hyponyms: helicopter mom, helicopter parent [feminine] Related terms: mother-hen [verb], henpecked Translations (overprotective woman): lloca [feminine] (Catalan), moederkloek [feminine] (Dutch), mère poule [feminine] (French), Glucke [feminine] (German), cearc ghoir [feminine] (Irish), mamma chioccia [feminine] (Italian), клу́ша (klúša) [feminine] (Russian), hönsmamma [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-mother_hen-en-noun-Yq0IX2c- Disambiguation of People: 36 52 11 Categories (other): English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 10 76 14 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 10 78 12 Disambiguation of 'overprotective woman': 0 100

Verb

Audio: En-au-mother hen.ogg [Australia] Forms: mother hens [present, singular, third-person], mother henning [participle, present], mother henned [participle, past], mother henned [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|++}} mother hen (third-person singular simple present mother hens, present participle mother henning, simple past and past participle mother henned)
  1. Alternative form of mother-hen Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: mother-hen Related terms: hen
    Sense id: en-mother_hen-en-verb-ZAIJdGXa

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for mother hen meaning in English (5.8kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mother hens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mother hen (plural mother hens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks."
      ],
      "id": "en-mother_hen-en-noun-I85Wh0pS",
      "links": [
        [
          "chicken",
          "chicken"
        ],
        [
          "eggs",
          "eggs"
        ],
        [
          "chick",
          "chick"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "lloca"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Glucke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "word": "tyúkanyó"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "word": "kotlós"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "word": "cloșcă"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "female chicken",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "gallina"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "10 76 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "10 78 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "36 52 11",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022 October 10, Jenna Scherer, “House Of The Dragon drops its best episode yet”, in AV Club",
          "text": "Baela sends a letter by raven to her father Daemon spilling all the tea, and the news sends a now-pregnant Rhaenyra into mother-hen mode.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch."
      ],
      "hyponyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "28 72",
          "word": "helicopter mom"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "28 72",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "helicopter parent"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-mother_hen-en-noun-Yq0IX2c-",
      "links": [
        [
          "outspoken",
          "outspoken"
        ],
        [
          "overprotective",
          "overprotective"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "matriarch",
          "matriarch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "28 72",
          "tags": [
            "verb"
          ],
          "word": "mother-hen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "28 72",
          "word": "henpecked"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "lloca"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "moederkloek"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "mère poule"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Glucke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "cearc ghoir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "mamma chioccia"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "klúša",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "клу́ша"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "overprotective woman",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "hönsmamma"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-mother hen.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg/En-au-mother_hen.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mother hen"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mother hens",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henning",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "mother hen (third-person singular simple present mother hens, present participle mother henning, simple past and past participle mother henned)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "word": "mother-hen"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, Diane Ehrensaft, Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, T.M. Nielsen, Equites, page 541",
          "text": "He's mother henning and driving me crazy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Suzanne Forster, Unfinished Business",
          "text": "That was probably why the girls mother henned her a bit and sometimes made her feel like the runt of the litter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of mother-hen"
      ],
      "id": "en-mother_hen-en-verb-ZAIJdGXa",
      "links": [
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          "mother-hen",
          "mother-hen#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "hen"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        "alternative"
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  "sounds": [
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      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg/En-au-mother_hen.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mother hen"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mother hens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "mother hen (plural mother hens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyponyms": [
    {
      "word": "helicopter mom"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "helicopter parent"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "mother-hen"
    },
    {
      "word": "henpecked"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "chicken",
          "chicken"
        ],
        [
          "eggs",
          "eggs"
        ],
        [
          "chick",
          "chick"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literally) A female chicken who bears eggs or chicks."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "literally"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
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          "ref": "2022 October 10, Jenna Scherer, “House Of The Dragon drops its best episode yet”, in AV Club",
          "text": "Baela sends a letter by raven to her father Daemon spilling all the tea, and the news sends a now-pregnant Rhaenyra into mother-hen mode.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch."
      ],
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        [
          "overprotective",
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          "woman",
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        ],
        [
          "matriarch",
          "matriarch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "lloca"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Glucke"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "word": "tyúkanyó"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "word": "kotlós"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "word": "cloșcă"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "female chicken",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "gallina"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "lloca"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "moederkloek"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "mère poule"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Glucke"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cearc ghoir"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "mamma chioccia"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "klúša",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "клу́ша"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "overprotective woman",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "hönsmamma"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mother hen"
}

{
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    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English verbs",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "mother hens",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henning",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henned",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "mother henned",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "++"
      },
      "expansion": "mother hen (third-person singular simple present mother hens, present participle mother henning, simple past and past participle mother henned)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hen"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "mother-hen"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, Diane Ehrensaft, Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, T.M. Nielsen, Equites, page 541",
          "text": "He's mother henning and driving me crazy.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Suzanne Forster, Unfinished Business",
          "text": "That was probably why the girls mother henned her a bit and sometimes made her feel like the runt of the litter.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of mother-hen"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "mother-hen",
          "mother-hen#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "En-au-mother hen.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg/En-au-mother_hen.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/En-au-mother_hen.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "mother hen"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (ee658f9 and be4df6b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.