mother hen
Overprotective hovering type
A mother hen is a fussy, overprotective person who hovers anxiously over others—typically someone who fusses over friends, family, or coworkers as a hen guards her chicks: She's such a mother hen, always checking that everyone's eaten.
The term can be affectionate or gently critical, depending on context.
Attending to dependents
- dotingExcessively affectionate toward
- affectionWarm emotional attachment
- warmthHeat you feel
- tendernessGentle, caring quality
brooding · nesting · clucking · fussing · coddling · pampering · sheltering · comforting
Depriving of air
- hoveringSuspended without support
- fussingAnxious, trivial agitation
- meddlesomeProne to interfering
- controllingExerting authority over others
bossy · intrusive · suffocating · clingy · overprotective · nagging · micromanaging · helicopter
Hatchlings as a group
- chicksNewly hatched birds
- flockAnimals gathered together
- nestlingsUnfledged young birds
- hatchlingsRecently emerged young animals
clutch · offspring · roost · coop · barnyard · poultry · pullet · broody
Carefully attentive, observant
- vigilantKeenly aware of danger
- guardingActively protecting something
- shieldingProtecting from harm
- defendingProtecting against harm
alert · hawk-eyed · eagle-eyed · wary · cautious · supervising · chaperoning · safeguarding
caregiving
Attending to dependents
tenderness · brooding · nesting · clucking · fussing · coddling · pampering · sheltering · comforting · soothing
smothering
Depriving of air
- hoveringSuspended without support
- fussingAnxious, trivial agitation
- meddlesomeProne to interfering
controlling · bossy · intrusive · suffocating · clingy · overprotective · nagging · micromanaging · helicopter · pestering
brood
Hatchlings as a group
hatchlings · clutch · offspring · roost · coop · barnyard · poultry · pullet · broody
watchful
Carefully attentive, observant
defending · alert · hawk-eyed · eagle-eyed · wary · cautious · supervising · chaperoning · safeguarding · shepherding
- Momsmom, mama, mommy, mummy, mamma
- bird expressionsearly bird, birdbrain, bird brain, lovebirds, jailbird
- difficult peopleegomaniac, egotist, nitpicker, drama queen, control freak
- sayings about motherhoodmama bear, mom guilt, motherly love, empty nest, supermom
- motherhoodmom, mama, mum, mommy, motherly
mother henhands-off
Not directly involved
laissez-faire · permissive · absentee · uninvolved · detached
mother, hen, smother, maternal, motherhood, mothers, matriarch, mothering, maternity