Pen

[Writing]

PEN. The instruments with which the characters were formed in the writing of the ancients varied with the materials upon which the letters were to be traced. Upon hard substances, such as stone or metallic plates, a graver of steel was used, the same which Job calls "an iron pen." It is possible that an instrument pointed with diamond, such as glaziers now use, was not unknown, as "the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond; Pens and Writing-Materials. it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars." Jer 17:1. Upon tablets of wax a metallic pen or stylus was employed, having one end pointed to trace the letters, the other broad and flat to erase any erroneous marks by smoothing the wax. Upon paper, linen, cotton, skins, and parchments, it was in very early times common to paint the letters with a hair-pencil brought to a fine point. The reed pen was introduced afterward, and at first used without being split at the point. The reed pen is used by the modern Turks, Syrians, Persians, Abyssinians. Arabs, and other Orientals, as their languages could not be written without difficulty with pens made from quills. A particular kind of knife is used to split the reed. Jer 36:23.

PEN. The instruments with which the characters were formed in the writing of the ancients varied with the materials upon which the letters were to be traced. Upon hard substances, such as stone or metallic plates, a graver of steel was used, the same which Job calls "an iron pen." It is possible that an instrument pointed with diamond, such as glaziers now use, was not unknown, as "the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond; Pens and Writing-Materials. it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars." Jer 17:1. Upon tablets of wax a metallic pen or stylus was employed, having one end pointed to trace the letters, the other broad and flat to erase any erroneous marks by smoothing the wax. Upon paper, linen, cotton, skins, and parchments, it was in very early times common to paint the letters with a hair-pencil brought to a fine point. The reed pen was introduced afterward, and at first used without being split at the point. The reed pen is used by the modern Turks, Syrians, Persians, Abyssinians. Arabs, and other Orientals, as their languages could not be written without difficulty with pens made from quills. A particular kind of knife is used to split the reed. Jer 36:23.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

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. The internal shell of a squid.

6. A female swan. [Prov. Eng.] Bow pen. See Bow-pen. -- Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. -- Drawing, 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 (Zoöl.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen.]

Part of speech: noun (n.)

A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs. My father stole two geese out of a pen. Shak.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet. "A prayer elaborately penned." Milton.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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.