Pen

Definition of Pen

Pronunciation: pĕn

An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving.

Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock.

- Job xix. 24.

Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen.

(Zool.) The internal shell of a squid.

(Zool.) A female swan; - contrasted with cob, the male swan.

Bow pen
See Bow-pen.

Dotting pen
a pen for drawing dotted lines.

Drawing pen
a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained.

Fountain pen
See under Fountain, and Geometric.

Music pen
a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff.

Pen and ink
executed or done with a pen and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch.

Pen feather
A pin feather.

Pen name
See under Name.

Sea pen
(Zool.) a pennatula.

v. t.

To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet.

[imp. & p. p. Penned ; p. pr. & vb. n. Penning .]

To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose.

[imp. & p. p. Penned or Pent ( ); p. pr. & vb. n. Penning.]

Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.

- Milton.

A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs.

My father stole two geese out of a pen.

- Shak.

A penitentiary[6]; a prison.

Related Words

POW camp, amanuensis, arable land, arena, artistry, authorcraft, authorship, automatic writing, barnyard, barton, bastille, beleaguer, beset, besiege, black hole, blockade, borstal, borstal institution, bottle up, bound, box in, box up, bridewell, brig, cacoethes scribendi, cage, calaboose, calligrapher, can, cattle ranch, cell, chamber, check, chicken farm, chirographer, cincture, clerk, clink, cloister, close, close in, collective farm, compass, composition, concentration camp, condemned cell, confine, constrain, contain, container, cooler, coop in, coop up, copier, copy, copy out, copyist, cordon, cordon off, cork up, corral, cotton plantation, coup de plume, court, courtyard, creative writing, crib, croft, cryptography, curtilage, dairy farm, death cell, death house, death row, delimited field, demesne, demesne farm, detain, detention camp, draft, drama-writing, draw up, dry farm, dude ranch, edit, editorial-writing, encage, encircle, enclave, enclose, encompass, enface, engross, engrossment, enshrine, essay-writing, expository writing, facility in writing, factory farm, fallow, farm, farmery, farmhold, farmland, farmplace, farmstead, farmyard, feature-writing, federal prison, fence, fence in, field, fold, forced-labor camp, fruit farm, fur farm, gaol, grain farm, grange, graphomania, graphorrhea, graphospasm, grassland, ground, guardhouse, hacienda, hedge, hedge in, hell, hem, hem in, hold, hold in custody, hold in restraint, homecroft, homefarm, homestead, hoosegow, house in, house of correction, house of detention, immure, impound, imprison, incarcerate, include, inditement, industrial school, inhibit, ink spiller, ink spilling, inkslinger, inkslinging, inscribe, inscription, internment camp, jail, jailhouse, journalism, keep, keep in, keep in custody, keep in detention, kennel, kibbutz, kolkhoz, labor camp, leaguer, letterer, lettering, libretto-writing, limbo, list, literary artistry, literary composition, literary power, literary production, literary talent, location, lockup, macrography, mains, make a recension, make out, manor farm, maximum-security prison, mew, mew up, micrography, minimum-security prison, novel-writing, orchard, oubliette, pale, paling, park, pasture, pen in, pen up, pen-and-ink, penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, pencil, pencil driver, pencil driving, pencraft, penfold, penitentiary, penman, penner, pinfold, place of confinement, plantation, playwriting, pocket, pokey, poultry farm, pound, prison, prison camp, prisonhouse, purgatory, push the pen, put in writing, quad, quadrangle, quarantine, rail in, ranch, rancheria, rancho, ready pen, recense, record, recording secretary, reform school, reformatory, restrain, restrict, revise, rewrite, rewriting, scribbler, scribe, scrive, scrivener, scrivenery, scrivening, scroll, seal up, secret writing, secretary, shackle, sheep farm, short-story writing, shrine, shut in, shut up, skill with words, spill ink, spoil paper, sponging house, square, stable, state prison, station, steading, stock farm, stockade, superscribe, surround, technical writing, the hole, theater, toft, tollbooth, trace, training school, transcribe, transcriber, truck farm, type, typewriting, typing, verse-writing, wall in, word-slinger, wrap, write, write down, write out, writer, writing, yard, yard up

Browse

Peltiform
Pelting
Pelton wheel
Peltry
Peltryware
Peludo
Pelure
Pelusiac
Pelvic
Pelvic arch
Pelvimeter
Pelvimetry
Pelvis
Pelvis of the kidney
pelycosaur
Pelycosauria
Pembroke
Pembroke table
Pemmican
Pemphigus
-Pen-
Pen and ink
Pen feather
Pen name
pen-and-ink
pen-friend
Penal
Penal code
Penal laws
Penal servitude
Penal suit
Penality
penalization
Penalize
penalized
Penally
Penalty
Penance
Penanceless
Penang lawyer
Penang nut

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z