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Definition of penlike - 3 dictionary results

pen

1  [pen] noun, verb, penned, pen⋅ning.
Use penlike in a Sentence
–noun
1. any of various instruments for writing or drawing with ink or a similar substance.
2. a detachable metal penpoint, filled by dipping or with a quill; nib.
3. such a penpoint with its penholder.
4. fountain pen.
5. ball-point pen.
6. the pen as the instrument of writing or authorship: The pen is mightier than the sword.
7. a person's style or quality of writing: He writes with a witty, incisive pen.
8. a writer: I leave this story to abler pens.
9. the profession of writing: a master of the pen.
10. stylus (def. 3).
11. Ornithology.
a. a quill.
b. a pinfeather.
12. something resembling or suggesting a feather or quill.
13. Zoology. an internal, corneous or chitinous, feather-shaped structure in certain cephalopods, as the squid.
–verb (used with object)
14. to write with or as with a pen; put down in writing: to pen an essay.
15. to draw with or as with a pen: to pen a sketch.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME penne < OF penne pen, feather < LL penna, L: feather

Related forms:
penlike, adjective
penner, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
pen

  1. n.
    a penitentiary; prison. (Underworld.) : Bart got sent to the pen for fifteen years.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

pen  (1)
"writing implement," c.1300, from O.Fr. penne "quill pen, feather," from L. penna "feather," from PIE *petna-, suffixed form of base *pet- "to rush, fly" (see petition). From the same base comes suffixed form *petra-, source of Skt. patram "wing, feather," Gk. pteron "wing," O.C.S. pero "pen," O.N. fjöðr, O.E. feðer (see feather). In later Fr., this word means only "long feather of a bird," while the equivalent of Eng. plume is used for "writing implement," the senses of the two words thus reversed from what they are in English. The verb is 1490, from the noun. Pen-pal first recorded 1938, gradually replacing earlier pen-friend (1933). Pen-and-ink (adj.) is attested from 1676.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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