Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Hen

Hen (hĕn), n. [AS. henn, hen, hæn; akin to D. hen, OHG. henna, G. henne, Icel. hæna, Dan. höna; the fem. corresponding to AS. hana cock, D. haan, OHG. hano, G. hahn, Icel. hani, Dan. & Sw. hane. Prob. akin to L. canere to sing, and orig. meaning, a singer. Cf. Chanticleer.] (Zoöl.) The female of the domestic fowl; also, the female of grouse, pheasants, or any kind of birds; as, the heath hen; the gray hen.

☞ Used adjectively or in combination to indicate the female; as, hen canary, hen eagle, hen turkey, peahen.

Hen clam. (Zoöl.) (a) A clam of the Mactra, and allied genera; the sea clam or surf clam. See Surf clam. (b) A California clam of the genus Pachydesma. — Hen driver. See Hen harrier (below). — Hen harrier (Zoöl.), a hawk (Circus cyaneus), found in Europe and America; — called also dove hawk, henharm, henharrow, hen driver, and usually, in America, marsh hawk. See Marsh hawk. — Hen hawk (Zoöl.), one of several species of large hawks which capture hens; esp., the American red-tailed hawk (Buteo borealis), the red-shouldered hawk (B. lineatus), and the goshawk.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.