| 释义 |
▪ I. pen, n.1|pɛn|
Forms: 1 penn, 4 pl. penez, 4–7 penne, 7–9 penn, 7– pen.
[OE. penn of uncertain origin: cf. pen v.1]
1. a. A small enclosure for domestic animals, as cows, sheep, swine, or poultry; a fold, sty, coop, etc.
(The OE. instances are of uncertain meaning.)
[957in Birch Cart. Sax. No. 1009 III. 212 Of þam penne on hean æsc. 968Ibid. No. 1217. 498 And lang þæra heafda on etta penn.] 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 322 Boþe boskez & bourez & wel bounden penez. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §38 Bynde her heed with a heye rope, or a corde, to the syde of the penne. 1570Levins Manip. 60/33 A Penne, or coup, caula. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iv. 41 Tel..how my Father stole two Geese out of a Pen. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 369 Making of a large pen to drive the Cattle into. 1726–46Thomson Winter 266 Now, shepherds..fill their pens With food at will. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger i. vi. 93 They will wake up all the sheep in the pens for a mile round. 1903Westm. Gaz. 2 Oct. 2/1 On some French estates the partridges are confined in large pens.
b. transf. A number of animals in a pen, or sufficient to fill a pen.
1873C. Robinson N.S. Wales 31 Pens of oxen, fattened on the natural grasses. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xii, Father opened his eyes at the price the first pen brought. 1904Daily News 2 July 6 Her fowls were a pen of pure Minorcas and a pen of Plymouth Rocks.
c. spec. A division in a sheep-shearing shed. Also, the work associated with a sheep-shearing pen. Austral. and N.Z.
1891R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxix. 381 On the outside of the smaller pens, and near to the outer side-walls the shearers are placed. 1900H. Lawson Verses, Pop. & Humorous 168 The shearers squint along the pens, they squint along the ‘shoots’. 1905― When I was King 38 The shed was cooled by electric fans that was over every shoot; The pens was of polished ma-ho-gany. 1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 11 Nov. 15/7 Pen. (1) A small yard; a division in the sheep-holding part of a wool-shed. (2) Shearers catch out of a p[en], and when they apply for work they ask for a p[en]. ‘Will you keep me a p[en] for next year, boss?’ is often their farewell. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. iii. 65 A shearer gets a cut (it is also called a stand or pen) when he is employed. 1965Austral. Encycl. VIII. 86/2 Shearing became the work of a nomadic band of men who travelled..from shearing shed to shearing shed... The fortunate ones ‘got their pen’ at the commencement of a shearing whilst the others moved on in the hope of getting work at some other station. 1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. iii. 48 An Australian instance of this [sc. metonymy] is the shearer's request for a pen, i.e. work, some sheep to shear.
2. a. Applied to various enclosures resembling these: see quotations.
c1620Fletcher & Massinger Double Marriage v. i, He's taken to the tower's strength... We have him in a pen, he cannot 'scape us. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Bouchots, crawls, pens, or places inclosed by hurdles, for fishing on the sea-coast. 1829Haliburton Nova-Scotia II. ix. 392 In winter they [the moose-deer]..describe a circle, and press the snow with their feet, until it becomes hard, which is called by hunters a yard, or pen. 1873G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere v. 38 Put them into the penns made within the bow of a net. 18..T. C. Crawford Eng. Life 57 (Cent.) The place [in the House of Lords] where visitors were allowed to go was a little pen at the left of the entrance. 1888E. Eggleston The Graysons xxx. 326 Building some rail pens to hold the corn when it should be gathered, and shucked. 1890Cent. Dict., Pen1, n...3. In the fisheries, a movable receptacle on board ship where fish are put to be iced, etc.
b. spec. in the West Indies: A farm, plantation, country house, or park. (Often spelt penn.)
1740[implied in pen-keeper: see 4]. 1792Gentl. Mag. LXII. 515 A pen in Jamaica is a farm or plantation. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 763 (Jamaica), 400 breeding farms or pens, of 700 acres each. 1844Mrs. Houston Yacht Voy. Texas I. 92 The pens, or villas of the rich inhabitants, who go there occasionally to enjoy health or coolness. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 222 The garden..is surrounded by a park, or ‘pen’, as it is called here.
c. A prison; a cell in a prison. orig. U.S. (cf. bull-pen 1 a).
Often indistinguishable from pen n.5
1845W. G. Simms Wigwam & Cabin (1846) 2nd Ser. 93 Laughter..ceased on my part, as I got in sight of the ‘pen’ in which I was to be kept secure. 1853F. W. Thomas John Randolph 286 If I had not caught him in Baltimore..and put him in the pen there for debt, I never should have got the money. 1867W. L. Goss Soldier's Story 144 Every batch of prisoners sent into the ‘pen’ were accompanied by a spy in U.S. blue. 1904N.Y. Even. Jrnl. 10 May 2 A panic was caused among the prisoners in the pen of the Ewen Street Police Court jail. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 139 Pen, a prisoner-of-war cage. (Mostly Army.)
d. A covered dock forming a berth for a naval vessel, esp. for a submarine.
1917W. S. Churchill Second World War (1949) II. i. xii. 216 A..harbour..with regular pens for the destroyers and submarines. 1932A. R. Bradshaw Eng.-French Naval Terms v. 76 Destroyer pens, les appontements. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 16 May 19 (caption) These..photographs illustrate the constructional development of a possible new Naval Base and set of Submarine Pens. 1944Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 12 Apr.–26 Sept. 229 Aircraft of Bomber Command launched a heavy attack on the 8-ft. thick E-boat pens at Le Havre. 1946War Report (B.B.C.) 111 When the famous submarine pens of Cherbourg were inspected they revealed a twenty-foot thickness of reinforced concrete, designed to be absolutely impregnable to air bombardment. 1959Economist 30 May 816/1 Russia does possess a foothold (complete with submarine pens) on the Mediterranean shore. 1961F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 158 Pen, penns, the spaces between a series of piers, so built that vessels may berth four to six deep between them. 1974Sci. Amer. Mar. 117/1 The waste and the sorrow glow too hot to be concealed yet, even under the 5.5-meter reinforced-concrete slab over the submarine pens at Doenitz' headquarters port of Brest. 1975Ibid. Oct. 6/1 There are a number of hard military targets other than missile silos, such as buried command posts, nuclear-weapons storage facilities and submarine pens that nuclear weapons may not be effective against unless they are accurate.
3. A contrivance for ‘penning’ or confining the water in a river or canal, so as to form a head of water; a weir, dam, or the like. ? Obs.
1585Act 27 Eliz. c. 19 Such old and former Bayes or Pens whereupon hath lately beene..standing some iron milles. 1607Cowell Interpr. s.v. Bay, Bay or penn, is a Pond⁓head made up of a great heighth, to keep in store of Water. 1721Perry Daggenh. Breach 58 Any Sluice, Dock-Gates, Dam, or Penn of Water. 1805Z. Allnutt Navig. Thames 43 The Banks are sufficiently high to admit of Four Feet pen without overflowing Lands. 1840Evid. Hull Docks Com. 140 There is a pen at the mouth of the Hull.
4. Comb.: pen-branded a., (of an animal) branded with a mark denoting the particular pen to which it belongs; pen-fed a., fed in a pen, or in confinement; pen-head, the dam or weir at the head of a mill-lead; pen-keeper (W. Indies), the overseer of a plantation or farm; pen-mate Austral. and N.Z. slang, a shearer who catches sheep out of the same pen (as another shearer); pen-pond, a pond formed by a ‘pen’ or dam; pen-pot, a cage or ‘pot’ for keeping crabs or lobsters in confinement; pen-wet (see quot.).
1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 232 Cows, unbranded calves, and *pen-branded bullocks.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 57 My polyle þat is *penne-fed & partrykes boþe.
1805State, Fraser of Fraserfield, etc. 229 (Jam.) They take in water from the river Don, at the intake or *penhead of the meal-mill.
1740Hist. Jamaica vii. 237 If any Person..refuse, either by himself, Overseer, or *Penn⁓keeper, to discover..the true Number of their Slaves, Horses, &c.
1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 11 Nov. 15/7 Two shearers usually catch out of one p[en] and are called *p[en]-mates. 1965J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 3 ‘Pen mates’ catch their sheep out of the same pen.
1904Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 6/2 Herons..bringing their young little fishes captured from the *pen-ponds close by.
1750Collinson in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 41 That the crab will subsist..in the fishermens *pen-pots, for the space of some months.
1851Stephens Bk. Farm (ed. 2) II. 365/1 Rain..would easily find its way, were the sheaves inclined downwards to the centre of the stack... The sheaves that are so spoiled are said to have taken in *pen-wet.
▪ II. pen, n.2|pɛn|
Also 4–7 penne, (6 pene), 7 penn, (Sc. pend).
[ME. a. OF. penne (pene, pan(n)e), 12th c. in Godef.; = It. penna feather, plume, quill, pen:—L. penna feather (pl. pinions, wings), in late L. pen for writing (Isidore).
In OF. penne had senses 1, 1 b (from Vulgate), and 4 below; in mod.F. it has only those of ‘long feather of the wing or tail (remex and rectrix), large feather of a bird of prey (in Falconry), feather of an arrow, plume on a heraldic crest’. Fr. and Eng. usage have thus gone widely apart, Fr. having substituted plume, where Eng. has retained pen, while vice versa Eng. uses plume in Heraldry for Fr. penne.]
I. A feather, a quill, and connected senses.
1. a. A feather of a bird, a plume. Obs. or dial.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 247 Riȝt as þe pennes of þe pecok peyneth hym in his fliȝte. 1393Ibid. C. xv. 180 Ac for hus peyntede pennes þe pocok is honoured. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. iii. (Tollem. MS.), Also þe souþerne wynde..changeþ in foules and briddes olde pennes and feþeris [orig. pennarum veterum et plumarum]. a1400–50Alexander 4988 All þe body & þe brest..Was finely florischt & faire with frekild pennys. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 63 The rauen wyll not gyue her blacke pennes for the pecockes paynted fethers. 1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 43 In Arabie called Fælix was she bredd This foule..Whose taill of coulour was celestiall blew, With skarlat pennis that through it mixed grew. 1625B. Jonson Staple of N. v. vi, The proud Peacocke, ouer-charg'd with pennes, Is faine to sweepe the ground, with his growne traine, And load of feathers. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Pen, feather. 1831Blackw. Mag. XXIX. 860 Hector is here chicken-hearted—crowed-down—cool in the pens—fugy, as the cockers say.
b. In pl. The flight-feathers (remiges) or pinions of birds regarded as the organs of flight; hence, like ‘pinions’, put for ‘wings’. Orig. a literalism of translation after L. pennæ of the Vulgate: so in OF. pennes (Godef.). Now a poetic archaism.
1382Wyclif Ps. ciii. 3 [Thou] that gost vp on the pennys of windis [1388 on the fetheris of wyndis, Vulg. super pennas ventorum]. 1382― Ezek. i. 5 And four faces to oon, and four pennys to oon [1388 foure wyngis weren to oon, Vulg. quatuor pennæ uni]. 1513Douglas æneis xii. v. 79 The lycht thai [fowlis] dirkin with thar pennys thik. 1611Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems iv. 5 The tragic end of Icarus..Lyk as he did presume, too hie wt borrowed pends [rime endis]. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 421 Featherd soon and fledge They summ'd thir Penns..soaring th' air sublime. 1800tr. Haydn's Creation, On mighty pens uplifted soars the eagle aloft. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Sept. xvi, He flasht his pens, and sweeping widely round Tower'd to air.
c. A short rudimentary feather or quill just breaking through the skin of a bird; = pen-feather 2, pin-feather. Chiefly dial.
1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., This chicken's full o' pens. 1880G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Pens, sb. pl. the rudimentary quills of feathers, as of fowls, ducks, &c. a1900Eng. Dial. Dict., In W. Yorksh. a young bird is first ‘nakt’, then in ‘blue pen’, then ‘fleggd’.
2. spec. The quill or barrel of a feather; the quill of a porcupine. Obs. or dial.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 89 A calose hardnesse..as it were a goos penne or ellis a kane. c1400Mandeville (1839) xxvi. 269 Griffounes..of hire ribbes and of the pennes of hire wenges men maken bowes. 1578Lyte Dodoens iv. liv. 514 With the fourth men did write..as they do now vse to do with pennes and quilles of certayne birdes. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 117 The Porcupine, who casteth her sharp pens into the mouth of all Dogs. 1871Cowie Shetl. Isl. xv. 89 Having no catheter, he relieved the patient with a ‘haigrie's pen’ (i.e. a heron's quill).
3. Transferred senses.
†a. A quill-like pipe or tube. Obs. rare.
c1420Pallad. on Husb. ix. 186 The water that gooth thorgh the leden penne [L. condite]. 1582Batman Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. v. xxxv, By gendring of humours in the wosen and pennis of the lunges [L. in pennis pulmonis].
b. A quill shaped like a spoon, for taking snuff; hence, a snuff-spoon of any sort. Sc. and dial.
1790Shirrefs Poems 29 Now, o' the snish he's for a dose; Wi' pen just rising to his nose. 1890Haliburton In Scottish Fields 98 The pinch was conveyed to the nose by means of a bone snuff spoon or pen, as it was called.
c. The internal, somewhat feather-shaped shell of certain cuttle-fishes, as the squids.
[1635Swan Spec. M. (1670) 342 The Calamary is some⁓times called the Sea-clerke, having as it were a knife and a pen.] 1872Nicholson Palæont. 295 Teuthidæ.—Shell consisting of an internal horny ‘pen’ or ‘gladius’, composed of a central shaft and two lateral wings. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. viii. 540 There is always an internal shell, which is either a pen, a sepiostaire, a phragmocone, or a combination of the latter with a pen.
d. The rigid petiole or midrib of a leaf. dial.
1818Edin. Mag. Oct. 330 (Jam.) A beggar received nothing but a kail-castock, or pen, that is, the thick rib up the middle of the colewort stalk. 1886Rea Beckside Boggle 290 Her hands get cut with sharp stones and bracken pens.
II. A writing tool, and derived senses.
4. a. (a) A quill-feather or part of one, with the quill or barrel pointed and split into two nibs at its lower end, so as to form an instrument for writing with ink; a quill-pen. Hence, (b) in modern use, a small instrument made of steel, gold, or other metal, pointed and split like the lower end of a quill-pen (or formed from a quill itself, a ‘quill-nib’), and used, when fitted into a pen-holder, for writing with ink or other fluid; the whole contrivance, pen and pen-holder, is also collectively called a pen, the writing-part being often distinguished as a ‘nib’ or ‘pen-nib’. Also (c) by extension, any instrument adapted for writing with fluid ink. (The chief current sense.)
With words expressing special purpose, as drawing-pen; geometric pen (for tracing curves); lithographic pen; music pen; right-line pen or straight-line pen = drawing-pen; or special construction, as fountain-pen, stylographic pen, q.v.
a1300Cursor M. 24075 (Edin.) Es na tung mai spek wit word, Ne writer write wit pennis orde. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 39 Þough he couth write neuere so wel, ȝif he had no penne, Þe lettre..I leue were neuere ymaked. Ibid. xvii. 13 Þe glose was gloriousely writen with a gilte penne. 1382Wyclif 3 John 13, Y wolde not wrijte to thee bi ynke and penne. 1474Caxton Chesse 77 On his eere a penne to wryte with. c1530L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 88, I wolde that they wolde set the penne to the paper. 1600Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood 5 Gracing his credite with a golden Pen. 1611Bible Ps. xlv. 1 The penne of a ready writer. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl iii. ii. 225 Lawyers' pens; they have sharp nibs. 1657Austen Fruit Trees i. 52 With a Quill the one halfe cut away, or a Pen of steele (made thin for the purpose). 1672Lond. Gaz. No. 735/4 One Pocket book covered with Vellum, with Silver Claspes and Silver Pen, and several Writings in it. c1678Mary Hatton in H. Corr. (Camden) I. 169 It comes in my mind to aske you if you have, in England, stel penns; because, if you have not, I will indevour to gett you some [in France]. 1710M. Henry Exp. Bible, Zech. iv. 2 So that without any further Care they received Oil as fast as they wasted it, (as in those which we call Fountain-Inkhorns, or Fountain Pens). 1748Lady Luxborough Lett. to Shenstone 18 Dec., A curse against crow-pens! 1750Fount. Knowl. Brit. Legacy 29 The expeditious or Fountain pen..is so contrived as to contain a great quantity of ink and let it flow by slow degrees. 1786S. Taylor Shorthand Writing 98 [For Short-hand] a common pen must be made with the nib much finer than for other writing..with a small cleft... But I would recommend a steel or a silver one that will write fine without blotting the curves of the letters. 1789F. Burney Diary & Lett. (1854) V. 39 And then I took a fountain pen, and wrote my rough journal for copying to my dear Sorelle. 1810Byron Let. to H. Drury 3 May, I am..writing with the gold pen he gave me. 1837Dickens Pickw. xxxiii, A hard-nibbed pen, which could be warranted not to splutter. 1894J. C. Jeaffreson Bk. Recoll. I. i. 20 Marvellously skilful in cutting quills and nibbing pens. 1899N. & Q. 9th Ser. III. 365/2 Quills as pens remained in use in some houses as the only writing tool up to a dozen to twenty years ago... Nowadays..the word ‘pen’ has almost dropped out of usage, except to express the pen and holder.
b. Viewed as the instrument of authorship; hence, the practice of writing or literature; † literary ability; manner, style, or quality of writing.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 10 Vouchesaf..My wyt and my penne so to enlumyne With kunnyng and eloquence. 1583Earl of Northampton (title) A Defensatiue against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies; not hitherto confuted by the penne of any man. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. vii. §2. 25 To me..that do desire as much as lyeth in my penne, to ground a social intercourse between Antiquitie and proficience. 1702Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 401 The writings of this author..shewing a very fine and polite pen. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 84 Men of the pen..have strong inclination to give advice. 1820Cobbett Gram. Eng. Lang. i. (1847) 12 Tyranny has no enemy so formidable as the pen. 1839Lytton Richelieu ii. ii. 308 The pen is mightier than the sword. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 403 The drama was the department..in which a poet had the best chance of obtaining a subsistence by his pen.
c. Including, and hence put for, the person who uses the pen, a writer or author. Now rare.
1563Mirr. Mag., Rivers vii, What harme may hap by helpe of lying pennes. 1605B. Jonson Sejanus Pref., [A book] wherein a second Pen had a good share. 1693–4Gibson in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 217 An inequalitie of stile and composition..the necessary consequence of different pens. 1792A. Young Trav. France 113 You hear of the count de Mirabeau's talents; that he is one of the first pens of France, and the first orator. 1821Trav. Cosmo III 1 The translation has been faithfully made..by a distinguished pen. 1922Joyce Ulysses 134 Gallaher, that was pressman for you. That was a pen.
5. Applied to other things having the function of a writing pen.
†a. An instrument for cutting or pricking designs or letters; a stylus; a graver. Obs.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1724 Þe fiste wiþ þe fyngeres..Þat rasped renyschly þe woȝe with þe roȝ penne. 1560Bible (Genev.) Job xix. 24 Oh that my wordes were..grauen with an yron pen in lead. 1640H. Glapthorne Hollander iii. Wks. 1874 I. 119 Rare Paracelsian, thy Annals shall be cut in Brasse by Pen of steele. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 236 Both men and women paint and embroider their skins with iron Pens.
b. A black-lead or other pencil. Now dial.
1644Evelyn Diary 2 Nov., I with my black lead pen tooke the prospect. 1684T. Goddard Plato's Demon 22 To read those places, which are marked with the red lead Pen. 1755Johnson, Pencil..2. A black lead pen, with which cut to a point they write without ink. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxix, The Duke of Argile..wrote your name down with a keelyvine pen in a leathern book.
c. electric pen, pneumatic pen, modern inventions which perforate the lines of writing in fine dots, whence copies are made in ink by stencilling.
1876Jrnl. Soc. Telegr. Engin. V. 180 Mr. Sivewright in describing the Electric Pen said:..The object of this pen is to pierce fine holes in sheets of paper, forming stencils, from which impressions are taken.
6. Phrases. pen-and-pencil (attrib.), using both pen and drawing-pencil or brush; pen-and-wash, using both pen and brush; also pen-and-ink.
[1658W. Sanderson Graphice 1 The most excellent use of the Penn, and Pensil, is illustrated..By Mathematicall..Charts, Mapps, etc.] 1896Idler Mar. 242/1 There are many well known pen and pencil men of to-day who can scarcely obtain sufficient commissions. 1893W. G. Collingwood Ruskin I. 122 We have no pen-and-wash work of his before 1845. 1900Westm. Gaz. 12 Nov. 2/1 The interesting pen-and-wash revivalist experiments of Mr. Roger Fry.
III. 7. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as pen-box, pen-draughtsman, pen-drawing, pen-line, pen-painting, pen-powder, pen-rack, pen-sac (from 3 c), pen-scratch, pen set, pen-sketch, pen-slip, pen-spray, pen-stalk, pen-stand, pen-steel, pen-stroke, pen-wright, pen-writing. b. in reference to the pen as an instrument of authorship (cf. 4 b), as pen-agility, pen-combat, pen-cuff, pen-errantry (after knight-errantry), pen-fellow, pen-fencer, pen-fighting, pen-gossip vb., pen-life, pen-pains, pen-prattle, pen-scolding, pen-slave. c. objective and obj. gen., as pen-cleaner, pen-cutter, pen-driver, pen-nibber, pen-pusher; pen-bearing, pen-holding, pen-nibbing adjs.d. instrumental, etc., as pen-worker; pen-persecuted, pen-written adjs.; also penlike, pen-painted adjs.
1887A. Heilprin Distrib. Anim. iii. i. 268 *Pen-bearing cuttle⁓fishes or calamaries.
1642Hales Schism 3 As long as the disagreeing parties went no further than Disputes and *Pen-combats.
1893Bookworm 316 Prynne and he came to *pen-cuffs.
1723Lond. Gaz. No. 6222/10 David Shepard,..*Pen-Cutter.
1889J. Pennell (title) *Pen Drawing and *Pen Draughtsmen, their work and their methods.
1878Browning Poets Croisic cii, Our middle-aged *Pen-driver drudging at his weary work.
1825Waterton Wand. S. Amer. iv. i. 295 If..thou wouldst allow me to indulge a little longer in this harmless *pen-errantry, I would tell thee [etc.].
1582N. T. (Rhem.) Pref. 8–9 Of which sort Calvin himselfe and his *penfellows so much complaine.
1654Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. IV. To Chancellor 3 These *Pen-fencers onely begge the Seal of your Authority.
1818Southey Lett. (1856) III. 85 If I were not rather disposed at this time to *pen-gossip with your worship.
1871Ruskin Fors Clav. vi. 5 My hand is weary of *pen-holding.
1602Warner Alb. Eng. x. lxii, Infuse ye *Penn-life..into ore taken Fames by death.
1581Mulcaster Positions v. (1887) 32 The pen or some other *penlike instrument.
1895E. M. Thompson Eng. Illum. MSS. ii. 38 The features of the human face are indicated by very light *pen-lines alone without any attempt at modelling. 1978Times 2 June 13/4 White [wall]papers with a thin pen line stripe of bright green or pink or blue.
1823Trans. Soc. Arts XL. 252 This operation..may be performed still more accurately by the *Pen-nibber here represented. 1902Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 692/2 He had in everyday use: (1) wash-hand tray..(13) pen-nibber, (14) ruler.
1844J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. liv, A pent-up, emasculated, *pen⁓nibbing menial.
a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 262 Practical policy..beating *pen-pains out of distance in the race of preferment.
1929E. Bowen Last Sept. ii. ix. 104 Cushions with *pen-painted sprays.
1862Trollope Let. 28 June (1951) 115 The character of Romola..is the perfection of *pen painting. 1934M. Allingham Death of Ghost xi. 130 The shop..which sold her pen paintings 'phoned her..and she spent a busy hour..getting off a consignment of table centres.
a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) I. v. 21 Much *pen-persecuted, and pelted at with libellous pamphlets.
1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 17 Such a Bombard⁓goblin..With drad *Pen-powder, and the conquerous pott.
1754Richardson Grandison V. xxi. 121 The design of my *pen-prattle.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pen-rack, a support for pens.
1883Hyatt in Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci. (1884) 338 A flap or hood-like prolongation of the mantle, forming a *pen-sac.
1884Chicago Advance 6 Mar., We have not a *pen-scratch in our statute founded in such reason.
1963L. Deighton Horse under Water xvii. 69 On da Cunha's simple mahogany desk was a porcelain-and-gold *pen set. 1977R. Ludlum Chancellor Manuscript. ix. 105 Quinn..sat down behind his desk... His eyes fell on..his pen set.
1887Athenæum 29 Jan. 166/3 Some *pen-sketches with tinted shadows.
1597J. Payne Royal Exch. 32 The devill hathe his seducing secretaries or *pennslaves.
1659Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 290, I hope that memory-mistakes and *pen-slips in my book will not be found so frequent.
1905J. W. Bradley Illum. MSS. ii. iii. 142 The greater part of this volume is in the..‘Berry’ style, i.e. the fine *pen-sprays of ivy leaf of burnished gold. But the first grand border is..transitional, consisting of the pen-sprays of golden ivy leaf alternating with sprays of natural flowers.
1907K. D. Wiggin New Chron. Rebecca iii. 78 Last night I dreamed that the river was ink and I kept dipping into it and writing with a *penstalk made of a young pine tree.
1933D. Gascoyne Opening Day i. 12 On the flap of the desk were bottles of inks, a *pen-stand in red and white mottled marble..and a profuse litter of papers. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 260/2 Horizontal tiered pen stands, as opposed to vertical pen holders, only became practical when the straight steel-nibbed pen replaced the curved feathered quill.
1898Cycling 44 Covered with a *pen-steel shell or bush.
1843Ruskin Mod. Paint. I. i. i. ii. §7 Three *penstrokes of Raffaelle are a greater..picture than the most finished work that ever Carlo Dolci polished into inanity. 1928O. E. Saunders Eng. Illumination I. 66 The shading on the draperies is executed by penstrokes, one thick line being regularly bordered by two thin ones. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Mar. 365/1 In the animation process, where the energy⁓charge of single penstrokes is naturally sacrificed to the blur of movement.
1712Pope Let. Wks. 1751 VII. 245, I will not encroach upon Bay's province and *pen-whispers.
1901Daily News 14 Feb. 9/3 *Penworkers were only being paid six to twelve shillings per week.
1870H. Campkin in Trans. Lond. & Middlesex Archæol. Soc. III. 232 The Grub Street *penwrights.
8. Special Combs.: pen-form, the shape of hand-written letters, esp. those influenced by the writing instrument or the way it is used; so pen-formed a.; pen-master, a master of the pen, a skilful writer, a calligraphist; pen-name [tr. pseudo-F. nom-de-plume, q.v.], a fictitious name assumed by an author, a literary pseudonym; pen-picture, a picture drawn with the pen; usually fig. a picturesque description; pen-plume = pen-feather; pen-point, (a) the point of a pen; (b) dial. a steel pen or nib; (c) literary ‘point’ or effectiveness; pen-portrait (cf. pen-picture); pen recorder, an instrument for producing a continuous graphical record of a variable measured quantity by means of a pen; so pen-recorded a., pen recording; pen-tray, a long narrow tray for pens (often forming part of an ink-stand); pen-trial, something written by a scribe on a manuscript to test his pen. Also pen-case, pen-clerk, pencraft, etc.
1906E. Johnston Writing & Illuminating iii. 63 For the practical study of *pen-forms use a cane or a reed pen. Ibid. xiv. 238 The Pen-formed letters are more easily practised. 1955J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King 397 They [sc. dwarfs] adhered to the Cirth, and developed written pen-forms from them.
a1661Fuller Worthies, Hereford (1662) 40 Two such Transcendent *Pen-masters..may even serve fairly to engross the will and testament of the expiring Universe.
18..B. Taylor cited in Webster (1864), *Pen-name. 1882J. A. Noble Sonnet in Eng. &c. ii. (1893) 69 Christina Rossetti..contributing, under the pen-name of Ellen Alleyne, a number of tenderly beautiful poems.
1853Zoologist II. 4054 The desultory manner in which Mr. ― has arranged his *pen-pictures. 1973Times 15 Dec. 4/2 Later the pupils were asked to rate the instructor on such things as intelligence, likableness, popularity and honesty, and give a short *pen picture of him.
1899Daily News 16 Sept. 7/2 Ostrich feathers or painted *pen-plumes are the principal trimming.
1884Chamb. Jrnl. 25 Oct. 686/1 Hitherto, iridium has been used solely for *pen-points. 1902Daily Chron. 27 Mar. 3/3 If one [plot]..were reclaimed, liquefied into words and given pen-point.
1884E. Yates Recoll. & Exp. II. 227 To visit and make a *pen-portrait of him.
1973Nature 27 Apr. 601/1 The *pen-recorded chart appears in Fig. 1.
1947Canad. Jrnl. Res. B. XXV. 397 In conjunction with a linear direct current amplifier and a Leeds and Northrup Speedomax *pen recorder, this unit allows rapid and accurate recording of a given mass spectrum. 1964Listener 27 Feb. 344/2 The radiations from Jupiter..may also be recorded as a trace, using a pen-recorder, though great care has to be taken with identification. 1972Physics Bull. Jan. 24/3 A permanent record of any defects can be obtained on a chart, the motion of which is synchronized with the position of the transducer.., if the output signal is fed to a pen recorder.
1942Rev. Sci. Instruments XIII. 218 (heading) Direct *pen recording of galvanometer deflections. 1945Ibid. XVI. 70/2 It was felt to be desirable to employ a pen recording system.
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pen tray, a small wooden tray for holding pens. 1882Catal. Dk. Hamilton's Collect. 231 A Persian lacquer pen-tray.
1953K. Sisam Stud. Hist. Old Eng. Lit. vii. 109 At the extreme top of folios 119a, 121a, 123a, 126a..is a prayer at the beginning of the sitting..; but it is also, I think, an inconspicuous *pen-trial to make sure that pen and ink will go smoothly. 1978N. & Q. Oct. 405/1 Additions to..the manuscript include the clarification of texts, pen-trials, [etc.].
▪ III. pen, n.3
Also 7 penne.
[Origin unascertained.]
A female swan.
(In Order of 1524 (Archæol. XVI. 156) the male and female are distinguished as ‘sire and dam’.)
c1550Order for Swannes §27 in Archæol. Inst. Lincoln (1850) 309 The cignettes shalbe seazed to the King, till due proof be had whos they are, and whos was the swan that is away, be it cobb, or penne. 1641H. Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 122 The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the shee-swanne the penne;..the owner of the cobbe is to have the one halfe, and the owner of the penne the other halfe. 1882P. Robinson Noah's Ark x. 340 The female bird—technically called ‘the pen’—has equal claims to notice both for personal bravery and parental solicitude.
▪ IV. pen, n.4 local.
[a. Brythonic (Welsh, Cornish) pen head.]
A word originally meaning ‘head’, frequent in place names in Cornwall, Wales, and other parts of Britain, as Penzance, Penmaenmawr, Penrith, Pencaitland; in some localities, esp. in the south of Scotland, used as a separate word in names of hills, e.g. Eskdalemuir Pen, Ettrick Pen, Lee Pen, Penchrise Pen, Skelfhill Pen, etc.; rarely as common noun, ‘the pen’.
[1602Carew Cornwall 55 Most of them begin with Tre, Pol, or Pen, which signifie a Towne, a Top, and a head: whence grew the common by-word By Tre, Pol, and Pen, You shall know the Cornishmen. 1628Coke On Litt. 5 b, Pen signifieth a hill.] 1715Pennecuik Descr. Tweeddale Wks. (1815) 49 Lee Pen is a high and pointed hill of a pyramidical shape... Cairn Hill..is a stupendous mountain like Lee Pen. 1775Armstrong Comp. to Map of Peebles (Jam.), Hills are variously named..as Law, Pen, Kipp, Coom, Dod, Craig, Fell, etc. 1805Scott Last Minstr. i. xv, From Craik-cross to Skelf-hill pen. 1890Gloucester Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., I live just under the Pen to which Pen lane leads.
▪ V. pen, n.5 U.S.|pɛn|
Abbrev. of penitentiary n. 7, with allusion to pen n.1 2 c (from which some early uses are indistinguishable).
1884‘C. E. Craddock’ In Tennessee Mts. 68 He b'lieved the Pen could claim it ez convict labor. 1889Provo (Utah) Amer. 28 Mar. 1/4 What John got was eighteen months in the pen. 1908[see cold a. 1 e]. 1910‘O. Henry’ Whirligigs xvii. 202 One year after I got to the pen, my daughter died. 1924W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xxvii. 273 He escaped from the pen four days ago. 1939J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath x. 123 I'm a-gonna tell you somepin about bein' in the pen. 1940R. Chandler Farewell, my Lovely vi. 43 We got a wire from Oregon State Pen on him. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xix. 159 This was the first time I met anybody from the federal pen. 1960Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Sept. 589/4 A junkie..who was..busted by the nailers and after a stretch in the pen cold turkeyed. 1967Punch 22 Nov. 796/2 Semple makes a pass at Carole, is rebuffed, strangles her in a demented fit, and does eighteen years in the pen for it. 1972‘H. Howard’ Nice Day for Funeral iii. 40 He was her meal-ticket. Why should she want him sent to the pen? 1973M. Campbell Halfbreed xviii. 123, I had only been in Vancouver a few days when I met a guy just out of the Pen. 1975High Times Dec. 9/1 Right now I'm in east Tennessee facing a five-to-15 year term in the state pen for something I haven't done—mainly for selling a schedule-one drug to a narc. 1977Time 20 June 33/1 Another escape try from Missouri state pen, on March 10, 1966.
▪ VI. pen, v.1
Forms: 1 *pennian; 3–7 penne, (7 penn), 6– pen. pa. tense penned |pɛnd|; also 7 pend. Pa. pple. penned |pɛnd|; also 6–7 pend, (6 arch. ypend). See also pend v.2, pent ppl. a.
[ME. pennen, repr. OE. *pennian (evidenced only in onpennad unpenned, opened), app. f. penn, pen n.1 Connexion with LG. pennen, pannen to bolt (a door) and penn pin, peg, is not clear, as these words seem to be related to OE. pinn pin, peg.]
†1. trans. To fasten, make fast (? as with a bolt or the like; to bolt). Obs. (See pin v.)
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 181 Hie tuneð to hire fif gaten, and penneð wel faste. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 296 Conscience..made pees porter to pynne [MS. B penne] þe ȝates.
2. To enclose so as to prevent from escaping; to shut in, shut up, confine. Often with up; also in. (See also pent ppl. a.)
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 43 Ȝif ure ani is þus forswolȝen, and þus penned, clupe we to ure louerd. [a1225Ancr. R. 94 Þet heo beoð her so bipenned.] 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 219 Ich putte hem in pressours and pynned [MS. M pennede] hem þerynne. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 72 Sonne-bright honour pend in shamefull coupe [gloss Pent, shut vp in slouth, as in a coope or cage]. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 681 For with the nightlie linnen..He pens her piteous clamors in her head. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. (Arb.) 40 Weede pen the prating parats in a cage. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 185 It is a custom..to Pen them up in too streight Swathing-bands. 1687B. Randolph Archipelago 34 The Venetian armada..have a custom never to be in any haven or port where they may be penn'd in. 1692Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 8 This constraint of Humours so long pen'd up. 1706A. Boyer Ann. Q. Anne IV. 3, I narrowly missed being penn'd up in the bay of Gibraltar. 1899S. R. Gardiner Cromwell 95 Fairfax after a magnificently rapid march penned them into Colchester.
3. spec.
a. To confine (the water) in a river or canal by means of a weir, dam, or the like, so as to form a head of water; to dam up. Also absol. (quot. 1791). Now rare.
1576in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 384 They..do..penne away the water in sommer. 1791R. Mylne Rep. Thames & Isis 51 This weir may be taken away if Godstow lock pens sufficiently high. 1840Evid. Hull Docks Com. 41 This mode of penning up the river so as to convert it into a dock. 1859Lewin Invas. Brit. 90 At Wye is a mill-dam by which the water is penned back.
b. To confine or shut up (cattle, poultry, etc.) in a pen; to put into or keep in a pen.
c1610Women Saints 60 He pend them [the wild geese] all fast in a house. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 185 Where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve In hurdl'd Cotes. 1792S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 245 And on the moor the shepherd penned his fold. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 846 Drive that stout pig and pen him in thy yard. 1891Times 6 Oct. 9/6 The number of sheep penned showed an increase of 540 British and 830 foreign.
▪ VII. † pen, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. pen n.2 1.]
intr. To develop feathers, to become fledged.
1486Bk. St. Albans B vij b, When she [an hawk] begynnyth to penne, and plumyth, and spalchith and pikith her selfe.
▪ VIII. pen, v.3
Forms: 5–7 penne, (6 penn), 6– pen. pa. tense and pple. penned |pɛnd|; also pa. pple.) 6 pende, 7 pend.
[f. pen n.2 4.]
a. trans. To write down with a pen; to put into writing, set down in writing, write down, write out, write; to put into proper written form, draw up (a document); to compose and write, to indite.
1490Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 100, I have bene with Thomas Horton..& pennyt ij inquisicions of dyverse wayes. 1530Palsgr. 523/2, I can devyse a thing wel, but I can nat penne it. 1563Mirr. Mag., Rivers x, The playntes alredy by the pende are brief enough. 1683(title) Panegyrick upon Folly, penn'd in Latin by Erasmus, rendered into English by White Kennett. 1709Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 209 They..penn'd down the words they were to speak. 1808Scott Marm. vi. xv, Thanks to St. Bothan, son of mine, Save Gawain, ne'er could pen a line. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am xii, I thought of penning a letter to the Times.
†b. To write of or about, to set forth or describe in writing. Obs.
c1555Harpsfield Div. Hen. VIII (Camden) 283 These..calamities, if they should be penned and set forth as the matter craveth. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 25 Philammones penned the birth of Latona..in verse. 1659Pearson Creed i. (1839) 95 Moses, who first penned the original of humanity.
c. intr. To use a pen; to write.
1904Hardy Dynasts I. ii. ii. 64 He pens in fits, with pallid restlessness. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 301 He would pen for her, he would pine for her.
▪ IX. pen
variant of pend n.2 and v.4 |