pencil
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Anglo-Norman and Old French pincil (modern pinceau (“paintbrush”)), from Latin diminutive peniculus (“brush”), from noun penis (“tail”) + diminutive suffix -culus.
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
pencil (plural pencils)
- (obsolete) A paintbrush.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.0:
- But living art may not least part expresse, / Nor life-resembling pencill it can paynt [...].
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.17:
- why is it not lawfull for every man to pourtray himself with his pen, as it was for him to doe it with a pensell?
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.0:
- Writing utensil that uses graphite (commonly referred to as lead). Regular pencils usually have a graphite shaft surrounded by wood. Also available in a mechanical version where the graphite length can be adjusted and sharpening is not needed.
- (geometry) A family of geometric objects with a common property, such as the set of lines that pass through a given point in a projective plane.
Derived terms [edit]
Terms derived from pencil (noun)
Translations [edit]
graphite writing-instrument
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slate writing-instrument
Verb [edit]
pencil (third-person singular simple present pencils, present participle Commonwealth pencilling, US penciling, simple past and past participle Commonwealth pencilled, US penciled)
- to write something using a pencil
- I penciled (BrEn: pencilled) it in my notebook.
- To tentatively make a booking or appointment.
- I am very busy today but I can pencil you in at 3 p.m.
Usage notes [edit]
- Particularly in British English, the present and past participles are frequently written with two L's: pencilling, pencilled.
