Definition: pen

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

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]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pen \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.

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 \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 \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.

         Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
                                                  --Milton.

Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001

PEN
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