A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1428-1658
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Hen, n. Also: henn, hayn. [ME. and OE. hen(n.]
1. A hen, the female domestic fowl. c1450-2 Howlat 779.
He couth of a hennis hed Make a mane mes 1470 Prestwick B. Rec. 15.
[That no one] hald cokkis na capounis … na hennis with hir folouaris c1500 Rowll Cursing 123.
Scho that stall the hen 1506 Treasurer's Accounts III. 411.
For the uncostis of the gret hennis that com forth of Flandrez … and for thair met c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 269.
That hurtis ȝow nought worth a hen 1535 Stewart 38066.
Preist or clerk … Gat no moir girth no vther guis or hen 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 39/8.
Quhilk gart the hennys kekkyl quhen the cokis creu 1571 Satirical Poems xxviii. 112.
Lyke till ane flok of hennis befoir ane tod 1634 Stirling's Royal Lett. II. 728.
In killing of reid and fallow deir, rae, and all sorts of wyld foull and haynes
2. Attrib. and comb. with cavie, croft, egg, pyker, plukker, steiller.(1) 1428 Inchcolm Chart. 54.
Et uno tofto vulgariter nuncupato le hen crofte alias le mylne crofte a1500 Tale of the Colkelbie Sow iii. 80.
Colkeby … bocht xxiiij hen heggis 1550 Prestwick B. Rec. 61.
For the … away taken of ane certane beyr furth of the hen akyr 1645 Edinburgh Testaments LXI. 133.
Ane hen kavie 1658 Ib. LXIX. 119.
Ane hen cavie(2) a1585 Polwart Flyt. 763 (T).
Hen pluker, closet muker, [etc.] a1585 Ib. 818.
Purspeiller, hen steiller 1618 Elgin Rec. II. 155.
For sklandering him in calling him hen pyker
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"Hen n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/hen>
