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Webster 1913 Edition

Pen

Pen

(pĕn)
,
Noun.
[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.
(Zool.)
The internal shell of a squid.
6.
[Etymol. uncertain.]
(Zool.)
A female swan; – contrasted with
cob
, the male swan.
[Prov. Eng.]
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
.]

Pen

,
Verb.
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

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Penned
or
Pent
([GREEK]);
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
,
Noun.
&
Verb.
]
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

,
Noun.
1.
[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
.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Pen

PEN

,
Noun.
[L. penna; pinna, a fin, that is, a shoot or point.]
1.
An instrument used for writing, usually made of the quill of some large fowl, but it may be of any other material.
2.
A feather, a wing. [Not used.]

PEN

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. penned. To write; to compose and commit to paper.

PEN

,
Noun.
A small inclosure for beasts, as for cows or sheep.

PEN

,
Verb.
T.
pret. and pp. penned or pent. To shut in a pen; to confine in a small inclosure; to coop; to confine in a narrow place, usually followed by up, which is redundant.

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