mother hen

plural mother hens

1. literallyA female chicken who bears eggs or chicks.
2. idiomaticAn outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch.

   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.

   2022 October 10, Jenna Scherer, “House Of The Dragon drops its best episode yet”, in AV Club

present singular third person mother hens · participle present mother henning · participle past mother henned · past mother henned

1. alternativeAlternative form of mother-hen.

   He's mother henning and driving me crazy.

   2010, T.M. Nielsen, Equites, page 541

   2 more examples

   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.

   1990, Diane Ehrensaft, Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children

   That was probably why the girls mother henned her a bit and sometimes made her feel like the runt of the litter.

   2011, Suzanne Forster, Unfinished Business