pen

pen
pen1
penlike, adj.penner, n.
/pen/, n., v., penned, penning.
n.
1. any of various instruments for writing or drawing with ink or a similar substance.
2. a detachable metal penpoint, filled by dipping or with a quill; nib.
3. such a penpoint with its penholder.
4. fountain pen.
5. ball-point pen.
6. the pen as the instrument of writing or authorship: The pen is mightier than the sword.
7. a person's style or quality of writing: He writes with a witty, incisive pen.
8. a writer: I leave this story to abler pens.
9. the profession of writing: a master of the pen.
10. Ornith.
a. a quill.
b. a pinfeather.
11. something resembling or suggesting a feather or quill.
12. Zool. an internal, corneous or chitinous, feather-shaped structure in certain cephalopods, as the squid.
v.t.
13. to write with or as with a pen; put down in writing: to pen an essay.
14. to draw with or as with a pen: to pen a sketch.
[1250-1300; ME penne < OF penne pen, feather < LL penna, L: feather]
pen2
/pen/, n., v., penned or pent, penning.
n.
1. a small enclosure for domestic animals.
2. animals so enclosed: We have a pen of twenty sheep.
3. an enclosure used for confinement or safekeeping: We have built several pens to hold our harvest of corn.
4. playpen.
5. See bull pen.
6. a dock having a protective concrete structure overhead, used to service and repair submarines.
v.t.
7. to confine in or as in a pen.
[bef. 1000; (n.) ME penne, OE penn (in compounds); perh. akin to PIN; (v.) ME pennen, deriv. of the n.]
pen3
/pen/, n. Slang.
penitentiary (def. 1).
[1880-85; Amer.; shortened form]
pen4
/pen/, n.
a female swan.
[1540-50; orig. uncert.]

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▪ writing implement
      tool for writing or drawing with a coloured fluid such as ink.

      The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush the Chinese used for writing by the 1st millennium BC. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike implements about 300 BC. A specific allusion to the quill pen occurs in the 7th-century writings of St. Isidore of Sevilla (Isidore of Sevilla, Saint), but such pens made of bird feathers were probably in use at an even earlier date. They provided a degree of writing ease and control never realized before and were used in Europe until the mid-19th century, when metallic pens and pen nibs (writing points) largely supplanted them. Such devices were known in Classical times but were little used (a bronze pen was found in the ruins of Pompeii). John Mitchell of Birmingham, England, is credited with having introduced the machine-made steel pen point in 1828. Two years later the English inventor James Perry sought to produce more-flexible steel points by cutting a centre hole at the top of a central slit and then making additional slits on either side.

      The inconvenience of having to continually dip a pen to replenish its ink supply stimulated the development of the fountain pen, a type of pen in which ink is held in a reservoir and passes to the writing point through capillary channels. The first practical version of the fountain pen was produced in 1884 by the American inventor L.E. Waterman.

      Ballpoint pens date from the late 19th century. Commercial models appeared in 1895, but the first satisfactory model was patented by Lázló Bíró (Bíró, László József), a Hungarian living in Argentina. His ballpoint pen, commonly called the “biro,” became popular in Great Britain during the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s pens of this type were widely used throughout much of the world. The writing tip of a ballpoint pen consists of a metal ball, housed in a socket, that rotates freely and rolls quick-drying ink onto the writing surface. The ball is constantly bathed in ink from a reservoir, one end of which is open and attached to the writing tip.

      Soft-tip pens that use points made of porous materials became commercially available during the 1960s. In such pens a synthetic polymer of controlled porosity transfers ink from the reservoir to the writing surface. These fibre-tipped pens can be used for lettering and drawing as well as for writing and may be employed on surfaces such as plastic and glass.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • pen — pen·al·ty; pen·ance; pen·cil; pen·dant; pen·dent; pen·den·tive; pen·du·line; pen·e·trant; pen·i·tent; pen·i·ten·tial; pen·i·ten·tia·ry; pen·man; pen·nat·u·lar·i·an; pen·ner; pen·sion; pen·sion·ary; pen·ste·mon; pen·ta·gon; pen·tam·e·ter;… …   English syllables

  • Pen — Pen, n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.] 1. A feather. [Obs.] Spenser. [1913 Webster] 2. A wing. [Obs.] Milton. [1913 Webster] 3. An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Pen — oder Pen steht für: P.E.N., die internationale Schriftstellervereinigung poets essayists novelists PEN Leiter, ein Schutzleiter mit Neutralleiterfunktion, Elektrotechnik PEN, ISO 4217 Code der peruanischen Währung Nuevo Sol Pen (Software), eine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Pen² — Pen Pen Dans Evangelion, Pen Pen (ou Pen²) est un pingouin d eau chaude (en réalité un manchot), fidèle compagnon de Misato Katsuragi. Sommaire 1 Histoire 2 Caractéristiques 2.1 Apparence 2.2 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • pen — pen1 [pen] n. [ME < OE penn, prob. akin to pinn,PIN] 1. a small yard or enclosure for domestic animals 2. the animals so confined 3. any small enclosure vt. penned or pent, penning to confine or …   English World dictionary

  • pen — Ⅰ. pen [1] ► NOUN 1) an instrument for writing or drawing with ink. 2) an electronic device used with a writing surface to enter commands into a computer. 3) the tapering internal shell of a squid. ► VERB (penned, penning) …   English terms dictionary

  • PEN — may refer to: International PEN, the worldwide association of writers Penang International Airport in Penang, Malaysia (IATA airport code) Penarth railway station, Wales; National Rail station code PEN PEN, the ISO 4217 code for Peruvian nuevo… …   Wikipedia

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  • Pen — Pen, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penned}or {Pent} (?); p. pr. & vb. n. {Penning}.] [OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on pennan to unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig. meaning, to fasten with a peg.See {Pin}, n. & v.] To shut up, as in a pen… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Pen — Pen, n. [From {Pen} to shut in.] A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs. [1913 Webster] My father stole two geese out of a pen. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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