under one's wing, to be/take someone
under one's wing, to be/take someone
To be protected or to protect someone. The analogy here is to a hen sheltering her chicks and was drawn as early as the thirteenth century, when it appeared in a Middle English manuscript. A little later, Stephen Hawes wrote (The Example of Virtue, 1510), “Under the wynge of my proteceyon All rebels brought be to subieccyon.”
See also: someone, take
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- hen fruit
- in clover, to be/live
- ride shotgun
- sit shotgun
- (as) mad as a wet hen
- mad as a wet hen
- madder than a wet hen
- moth
- drawn like a moth to a flame
- drawn to (something) like a moth to a flame