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.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	Pen \Pen\ (p[e^]n), 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 other bird, but now
      also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also,
      originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or
      graving.
      [1913 Webster]

            Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock. --Job
                                                  xix. 24.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen.
      "Those learned pens." --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Zool.) The internal shell of a squid.
      [1913 Webster]

   6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zool.) A female swan; -- contrasted
      with cob, the male swan. [Prov. Eng.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Bow pen. See Bow-pen.

   Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines.

   Drawing pen, 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 (Zool.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen.]
      [1913 Webster]

	

	Pen \Pen\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pennedor 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.
   [1913 Webster]

         Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
                                                  --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

	

	Pen \Pen\, n.
   1. [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]

   2. [From penitentiary.] A penitentiary[6]; a prison. [Slang]
      [PJC]

	

	Penitentiary \Pen`i*ten"tia*ry\, n.; pl. Penitentiaries. [Cf.
   F. p['e]nitencier. See Penitent.]
   1. One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance.
      [Obs.] --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who does penance. [Obs.] --Hammond.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed.
      --Shpiley.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. That part of a church to which penitents were admitted.
      --Shipley.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (R. C. Ch.)
      (a) An office of the papal court which examines cases of
          conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc.,
          and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief
          is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary,
          appointed by the pope.
      (b) An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested
          with power from the bishop to absolve in cases
          reserved to him.
          [1913 Webster]

   6. A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for
      punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they
      are generally compelled to labor; a prison; a jail.
      Colloquially often shortened to pen.
      [1913 Webster]

	

	pen
     n 1: a writing implement with a point from which ink flows
     2: an enclosure for confining livestock
     3: a portable enclosure in which babies may be left to play
        [syn: playpen]
     4: a correctional institution for those convicted of major
        crimes [syn: penitentiary]
     5: female swan
     v : produce a literary work; "She composed a poem"; "He wrote
         four novels" [syn: write, compose, indite]
     [also: pent, penning, penned]

	

	298 Moby Thesaurus words for "pen":
   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, 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, enclosure, 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

	

	PEN
     Public Education Network

	

Search Dictionary :

Search   in   Tutorials Encyclopedia Dictionary Directory

Search for pen in Tutorials

Search for pen in Encyclopedia

Search for pen in Dictionary

Search for pen in Open Directory

Search for pen in Store

Search for pen in PriceGig

Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web. Submit a Site - Open Directory Project - Become an Editor

Powered by dict.org