henwife

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • noun A woman who has charge of poultry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

  • noun A woman in charge of domestic fowl; sometimes used contemptuously about men.

Examples

  • Winnie was considered chief henwife at the Parsonage.

    The Youngest Girl in the Fifth A School Story

  • This was a half-witted lad, of very small stature, who had a kind of charge of the poultry under the old henwife; for in a Scottish family of that day there was a wonderful substitution of labour.

    Old Mortality

  • So next morning early, the queen said to Anne, Go, my dear, to the henwife in the glen, and ask her for some eggs.

    English Fairy Tales

Note

The word 'henwife' is a compound of 'hen' and 'wife'.