Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pen?

\Pen\, n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.] 1. A feather. [Obs.] --Spenser. 2. A wing. [Obs.] --Milton. 3. 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. 4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. ``Those learned pens.'' --Fuller. 5. (Zo["o]l.) The internal shell of a squid. 6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zo["o]l.) A female swan. [Prov. Eng.] {Bow pen}. See {Bow-pen}. {Dotting pen}, a pen for drawing dotted lines. {Drawing}, or {Ruling}, {pen}, a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. {Fountain pen}, {Geometric pen}. See under {Fountain}, and {Geometric}. {Music pen}, a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff. {Pen and ink}, or {pen-and-ink}, executed or done with a pen and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch. {Pen feather}. A pin feather. [Obs.] {Pen name}. See under {Name}. {Sea pen} (Zo["o]l.), a pennatula. [Usually written {sea-pen}.]
\Pen\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Penning}.] To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet. ``A prayer elaborately penned.'' --Milton.
\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 or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose. ``Away with her, and pen her up.'' --Shak. Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve. --Milton.
\Pen\, n. [From {Pen} to shut in.] A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs. My father stole two geese out of a pen. --Shak.