pencil

pencil
penciler; esp. Brit., penciller, n.pencillike, adj.
/pen"seuhl/, n., v., penciled, penciling or (esp. Brit.) pencilled, pencilling.
n.
1. a slender tube of wood, metal, plastic, etc., containing a core or strip of graphite, a solid coloring material, or the like, used for writing or drawing.
2. a stick of cosmetic coloring material for use on the eyebrows, eyelids, etc.
3. anything shaped or used like a pencil, as a stick of medicated material: a styptic pencil.
4. a narrow set of lines, light rays, or the like, diverging from or converging to a point: a pencil of sunlight.
5. a slender, pointed piece of a substance used for marking.
6. style or skill in drawing or delineation: He favored the late products of the artist's pencil.
7. Math. the collection of lines, planes, or surfaces passing through a given point or set of points and satisfying a given equation or condition.
8. Archaic. an artist's paintbrush, esp. for fine work.
v.t.
9. to write, draw, mark, or color with, or as if with, a pencil.
10. to use a pencil on.
11. pencil in, to schedule or list tentatively, as or as if by writing down in pencil rather than in ink: I'll pencil you in for ten o'clock.
[1350-1400; ME pencel < MF pincel L penicillus painter's brush or pencil, dim. of peniculus little tail. See PENIS, -CULE1]

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      in projective geometry, all the lines in a plane passing through a point, or in three dimensions, all the planes passing through a given line. This line is known as the axis of the pencil. In the duality of solid geometry, the duality being a kind of symmetry between points and planes, the dual of a pencil of planes consists of a line of points. In a plane, in which there is a duality between points and lines, the dual of a line of points is the pencil of lines through a point.

▪ writing implement
      slender rod of a solid marking substance, such as graphite, enclosed in a cylinder of wood, metal, or plastic; used as an implement for writing, drawing, or marking. In 1565 the German-Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner (Gesner, Conrad) first described a writing instrument in which graphite, then thought to be a type of lead, was inserted into a wooden holder. Gesner was the first to describe graphite as a separate mineral, and in 1779 the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele (Scheele, Carl Wilhelm) showed it to be a form of carbon. The name graphite is from the Greek graphein, “to write.” The modern lead pencil became possible when an unusually pure deposit of graphite was discovered in 1564 in Borrowdale, Cumberland, Eng.

      The hardness of writing pencils, which is related to the proportion of clay (used as a binder) to graphite in the lead, is usually designated by numbers from one, the softest, to four, the hardest. Artists' drawing pencils range in a hardness designation generally given from 8B, the softest, to F, the hardest. The designation of the hardness of drafting pencils ranges from HB, the softest, to 10H, the hardest.

      The darkness of a pencil mark depends on the number of small particles of graphite deposited by the pencil. The particles are equally black (though graphite is never truly black) regardless of the hardness of the lead; only the size and number of particles determine the apparent degree of blackness of the pencil mark. The degree of hardness of a lead is a measure of how much the lead resists abrasion by the fibres of the paper.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Synonyms:
(made of hair or fine bristles), , , , , / ,


Look at other dictionaries:

  • pencil in — ˌpencil ˈin [transitive] [present tense I/you/we/they pencil in he/she/it pencils in present participle pencilling in past tense …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pencil — Pen cil, n. [OF. pincel, F. pinceau, L. penicillum, penicillus, equiv. to peniculus, dim. of penis a tail. Cf. {Penicil}.] 1. A small, fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters for laying on colors. [1913 Webster] With subtile pencil… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Pencil — это программа для создания 2D анимации, которая запускается на Mac, Windows, Linux и BSD. Pencil использует единый растрово векторный интерфейс для создания простой 2D графики и анимации. Pencil написан на C++ и основан на Qt. Приложение… …   Википедия

  • pencil — (n.) late 14c., an artist s fine brush of camel hair, from O.Fr. pincel artist s paintbrush (Fr. pinceau), from L. penicillus paintbrush, pencil, lit. little tail, dim. of peniculus brush, itself a dim. of penis tail (see PENIS (Cf. penis)).… …   Etymology dictionary

  • pencil — [pen′səl] n. [ME pencel < MFr pincel < VL * penicellus < L penicillus, a brush < dim. of penis, a tail, PENIS: mod. sense & form infl. by PEN2] 1. Archaic an artist s small, fine brush 2. the individual style or ability of an artist 3 …   English World dictionary

  • Pencil — Développeur Evolus Dernière version 1.2.0 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • pencil — ► NOUN ▪ an instrument for writing or drawing, typically consisting of a thin stick of graphite enclosed in wood or a cylindrical case. ► VERB (pencilled, pencilling; US penciled, penciling) 1) write, draw, or colour with a pencil. 2) (p …   English terms dictionary

  • Pencil — Pen cil, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penciled}or {Pencilled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Penciling} or {Pencilling}.] To write or mark with a pencil; to paint or to draw. Cowper. [1913 Webster] Where nature pencils butterflies on flowers. Harte. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pencil — ⇒PENCIL, subst. masc. Vx. Crayon de maquillage pour les sourcils, les yeux, les lèvres. Ses yeux (...) distinguaient au milieu d un attirail de miroirs à main, de pencils, patte de lièvre, boîtes à poudre et à onguents, (...) l infortunée Déborah …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • pencil in — pencil (someone/something) in to have a temporary plan to do something with someone. The team had penciled in Morton as a key player this season. I penciled you in for lunch next Thursday. Etymology: based on the idea that a pencil mark can… …   New idioms dictionary

  • pencil — as a verb has inflected forms pencilled, pencilling in BrE, and usually penciled, penciling in AmE …   Modern English usage

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