Word.ws English Dictionary

hen peck

hen peck is the alternative form of henpeck.

Meaning of henpeck

Verb

henpeck (third-person singular simple present henpecks, present participle henpecking, simple past and past participle henpecked)

  1. (chiefly by a wife) To nag persistently.
    • But—Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual, Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck'd you all?1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, (please specify the stanza number)
  2. To peck or peck at another bird.
    • Mrs Allsop and her bar-blue brother travelled well together in good times, but after they ducketed she would chase him from niche to niche, henpecking him while Monte tried to collar them and collect their rings.1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 104

See all 3 meanings of henpeck

Forms of hen peck

Verb
third-person singular presenthen pecks
present participlehen pecking
past participlehen pecked
pasthen pecked
Noun
pluralhen pecks

Questions about hen peck

What is hen peck the alternative form of?
Hen peck is the alternative form of henpeck.

Words near hen peck in the dictionary

  1. hen night
  2. hen nights
  3. hen of the woods
  4. hen parties
  5. hen party
  6. hen peck
  7. hen pecked
  8. hen pecking
  9. hen pecks
  10. hen pigeon
  11. hen pigeons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hen peck (page history and authors); henpeck (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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