a slender tube of wood, metal, plastic, etc., containing a core or strip of graphite, a solid coloring material, or the like, used for writing or drawing.
2.
a stick of cosmetic coloring material for use on the eyebrows, eyelids, etc.
3.
anything shaped or used like a pencil, as a stick of medicated material: a styptic pencil.
4.
a narrow set of lines, light rays, or the like, diverging from or converging to a point: a pencil of sunlight.
5.
a slender, pointed piece of a substance used for marking.
to write, draw, mark, or color with, or as if with, a pencil.
10.
to use a pencil on.
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Pencilledis always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
So is ort. Does it mean:
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
pencil in, to schedule or list tentatively, as or as if by writing down in pencil rather than in ink: I'll pencil you in for ten o'clock.
Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English pencel < Middle French pincel ≪ Latin pēnicillus painter's brush or pencil, diminutive of pēniculus little tail. See penis, -cule1
late 14c., "an artist's fine brush of camel hair," from O.Fr. pincel "artist's paintbrush" (Fr. pinceau), from L. penicillus "paintbrush, pencil," lit. "little tail," dim. of peniculus "brush," itself a dim. of penis "tail" (see penis). Small brushes formerly used for writing
before modern lead or chalk pencils; meaning "graphite writing implement" apparently evolved late 16c. Derogatory slang pencil-pusher "office worker" is from 1881; pencil neck "weak person" first recorded 1973. To pencil (something) in "arrange tentatively" is attested from 1942.