GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 5 definitions 

  1.       

    Pen , n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.]
    1. A feather. [Obs.]
      Spenser.

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    2. A wing. [Obs.]
      Milton.

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    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.
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      Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock.
      Job xix. 24.

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    4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. “Those learned pens.”
      Fuller.

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    5. (Zool.) The internal shell of a squid.
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    6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zool.) A female swan; -- contrasted with cob, the male swan. [Prov. Eng.]
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      Bow pen. See Bow-pen. -- Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. -- Drawing pen, 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 (Zool.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen.]
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  2.       

    Pen, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penned ; p. pr. & vb. n. Penning .] To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet. “A prayer elaborately penned.”
    Milton.

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  3.       

    Pen, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Penned  or Pent (); p. pr. & vb. n. Penning.] [OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on-pennan to unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig. meaning, to fasten with a peg.See Pin, n. & 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.

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    Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
    Milton.

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  4.       

    Pen, n.
    1. [From Pen to shut in.] A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs.
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      My father stole two geese out of a pen.
      Shak.

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    2. [From penitentiary.] A penitentiary[6]; a prison. [Slang]
      PJC
    
      
    
  5.       

    Penitentiary, n.; pl. Penitentiaries . [Cf. F. pénitencier. See Penitent.]
    1.  One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. [Obs.]
      Bacon.

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    2. One who does penance. [Obs.]
      Hammond.

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    3. A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed.
      Shpiley.

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    4. That part of a church to which penitents were admitted.
      Shipley.

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    5. (R. C. Ch.) (a) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope. (b) An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
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    6. A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor; a prison; a jail. Colloquially often shortened to pen.
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