pencil

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pencil/ˈpensl/

▶noun

• 1 an instrument for writing or drawing, typically consisting of a thin stick of graphite enclosed in a long, thin piece of wood or fixed in a thin cylindrical case.

• 2 Physics & Geometry a set of light rays, lines, etc. converging to or diverging narrowly from a point.

▶verb (pencils, pencilling, pencilled; US pencils, penciling, penciled)

• 1 write, draw, or colour with a pencil.

• 2 (pencil something in) arrange or note down something provisionally.

– derivatives
penciller noun.

– origin ME (denoting a fine paintbrush): from OFr. pincel, from a dimin. of L. peniculus ‘brush’, dimin. of penis ‘tail’.