Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To dominate or harass (someone, usually a man) with persistent nagging.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To rule or keep in subjection by superior force of will or assaults of ill temper; domineer over: said of a wife who thus rules her husband.
- noun The rule or control of a husband by his wife; henpecking.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To bother persistently with trivial complaints; to subject to petty authority; -- said of a woman who thus treats her male companion, especially of wives who thus dominate their husbands. Commonly used in the past participle (often adjectively).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
nag persistently .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb bother persistently with trivial complaints
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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But because somebody emotionally batters you and degrades you -- perhaps Mary was afraid that her husband was going to find out about the Ponzi scheme and she was going to -- he was going to be so mad, but that would give all the men the right to kill their wives simply because their wives might henpeck them or get angry because they didn ` t remember their birthdays or something.
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Nouakchott, henpeck restrained entrusts Mississippians
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Nouakchott,henpeck restrained entrusts Mississippians
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She is resolute and impetuous, clever and domineering; she is not one of those model women who want a man to look up to, and to protect them — her beau-ideal (though she may not think it herself) is a man she can henpeck.
No Name 2003
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When it became hubby's duty to cook the meals and carry half of them to bed for his better half every morning before breakfast he began to taste silly and smell sort of henpeck like.
Skookum Chuck Fables Bits of History, Through the Microscope
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The husband of the one dollar variety was more or less of a henpeck because he could not multiply his income by five and produce a concrete result.
Skookum Chuck Fables Bits of History, Through the Microscope
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Mrs. Stanton is of intellectual stock, impressive in manner and disposed to henpeck the convention which of course calls out resistance and much cackling ....
The Life and Work of Susan B Anthony 01 Harper, Ida H 1899
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Mrs. Stanton is of intellectual stock, impressive in manner and disposed to henpeck the convention which of course calls out resistance and much cackling ....
The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years Ida Husted Harper 1891
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Was it possible that she might not be going to henpeck him after all?
The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1868
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"How you do henpeck me, Lolly!" he said, rather sheepishly.
Aurora Floyd. A Novel Mary Elizabeth 1863
hernesheir commented on the word henpeck
Railroad telegraphers' term meaning "You are wanted at home". --US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906, p.268.
January 23, 2013