Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pencil
Pen′cil
,Noun.
[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.
With subtile
pencil
depainted was this storie. Chaucer.
2.
A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, graphite, colored chalk, slate etc., or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, – used for drawing or writing. See
Graphite
. 3.
Hence, figuratively, an artist’s ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.
4.
(Opt.)
An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
5.
(Geom.)
A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point.
6.
(Med.)
A small medicated bougie.
Pencil case
, a holder for pencil lead.
– Pencil flower
(Bot.)
, an American perennial leguminous herb (
– Stylosanthes elatior
). Pencil lead
, a slender rod of black lead, or the like, adapted for insertion in a holder.
Pen′cil
,Verb.
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.
Where nature
pencils
butterflies on flowers. Harte.
Webster 1828 Edition
Pencil
PEN'CIL
,Noun.
1.
A small brush used by painters for laying on colors. The proper pencils are made of fine hair or bristles, as of camels, badgers or squirrels, or of the down of swans, inclosed in a quill. The larger pencils, made of swine's bristles, are called brushes.2.
A pen formed of carburet of iron or plumbago, black lead or red chalk, with a point at one end, used for writing and drawing.3.
Any instrument of writing without ink.4.
An aggregate or collection of rays of light.PEN'CIL
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2024
pencil
pencil
English
Selection of colored pencils.
Noun
pencil (plural pencils)
- (obsolete) A paintbrush.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.0:
- But living art may not least part expresse, / Nor life-resembling pencill it can paynt […].
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.17:
- why is it not lawfull for every man to pourtray himself with his pen, as it was for him to doe it with a pensell?
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.0:
- Writing utensil that uses graphite (commonly referred to as lead). Regular pencils usually have a graphite shaft surrounded by wood. Also available in a mechanical version where the graphite length can be adjusted and sharpening is not needed.
- (geometry) A family of geometric objects with a common property, such as the set of lines that pass through a given point in a projective plane.
- (optics) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
- 1863, The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal
- When, by the pencil becoming oblique to the surface, the vergency produced on the pencil becomes changed, the primary and secondary focal points, V and H, separate […]
- 1863, The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal
- (medicine, archaic) A small medicated bougie.
Derived terms
Terms derived from pencil (noun)
Translations
graphite writing-instrument
|
|
slate writing-instrument
Verb
pencil (third-person singular simple present pencils, present participle (UK) pencilling or (US) penciling, simple past and past participle (UK) pencilled or (US) penciled)
- to write something using a pencil
- I penciled (BrEn: pencilled) it in my notebook.