pen

Multiple Entries:
  pen    PEN    Pen.  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pen1

▶noun

• 1 an instrument for writing or drawing with ink, typically consisting of a metal nib or ball, or a nylon tip, fitted into a metal or plastic holder.

  ■ (the pen) writing as an occupation.

  ■ an electronic device used in conjunction with a writing surface to enter commands or data into a computer.

• 2 Zoology the tapering cartilaginous internal shell of a squid.

▶verb (pens, penning, penned) write or compose.

– phrases
pen and ink Brit. rhyming slang a stink.

– origin ME (orig. denoting a feather with a sharpened quill): from OFr. penne, from L. penna ‘feather’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pen2

▶noun

• 1 a small enclosure in which sheep, pigs, or other farm animals are kept.

• 2 a covered dock for a submarine or other warship.

• 3 (in the West Indies) a farm or plantation.

▶verb (pens, penning, penned)

• 1 put or keep in a pen.

• 2 (pen someone up/in) confine someone in a restricted space.

– origin OE penn, of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pen3

▶noun a female swan.

– origin C16: of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pen4

▶noun N. Amer. informal short for penitentiary (sense 1)).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
PEN

▶abbreviation International Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Pen.

▶abbreviation Peninsula.