mother hen
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˈmʌðər hɛn/
- Informal
:
madre protectora
- * Ask any of the chickies in my pen * * They'll tell you l'm the biggest mother hen * * l love them all, and all of them love me * * Because the system works, the system called * * Reciprocity * On your feet.
Examples
-
My sister acts as a mother hen, constantly checking in on me and making sure I eat well.
-
I had the impression that you were something of a mother hen where your brother was concerned.
Fiction book (1990) -
Honestly, she watches over me like a mother hen.
-
Mother hen protecting the little one?
-
Diane is like a mother hen to everyone; she always makes sure we are okay and helps us when we need it.
-
At the camp, our leader was a true mother hen, always fussing over us and ensuring we were all having a good time.
Synonyms
3
3.2
A woman who cares for and guides someone like a parent
How Protective
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an overprotective, fussing person' is a metaphorical extension of the literal parts: a 'mother' is protective and a 'hen' is stereotypically broody and caring for chicks, so the combined image points to someone who fusses over others. Because this relies on cultural/animal-behaviour knowledge and a figurative mapping rather than a purely compositional pattern, a B1 learner who knows the words may often guess the sense but it is not fully predictable for all learners.
Etymology
The expression mother hen comes from the real bird: a hen that keeps her chicks close, watches them carefully and protects them. That's why we call a very caring or overprotective person 'a mother hen'.