pencilwork

English

Etymology

pencil +‎ work

Noun

pencilwork (uncountable)

1. A task involving lots of writing.
   • 1948 November, “Globe Aids Star Study”, in Popular Science‎^[1], page 243:

     Amateur astronomers needn't do a lot of mathematical pencilwork with this clear, all-plastic celestial globe.

   • 1975 November, Griffin Smith, jr., “The Strange Case of the Missing Parks”, in Texas Monthly‎^[2], page 136:

     To assess only one-third of the cost of a new administrative headquarters against a fund designed for administration and operations, while assessing two-thirds against another fund designed to buy and open new parks, takes some fancy pencilwork.

   • 2007 December 3, Colin Nickerson, “The science of how buildings fall down”, in The Boston Globe‎^[3]:

     Engineers rely mostly on computer simulations and pencilwork for such forecasts.

2. Drawings done with a pencil.
   • 1839 August/November, “Essays on Natural History, chiefly Ornithology [book review]”, in The Dublin Review, vol VII‎^[4], page 184:

     Mr. Prideaux Selby delights and excels in the glowing and splendid pencilwork of nature.

   • 1998, G. Malcolm Lewis, Maps, Mapmaking, and Map Use by Native North Americans [in:] The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book 3: Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies‎^[5], University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 154:

     Chief Windigo's map of Lake Nipigon, Ontario. […] ca. 1869, probably original Indian pencilwork on paper, enhanced in ink and blue wash, and with the addition of many names.

   • 2009 November 3, Laura Miller, “Glimpsing a Life Through a Few Objects”, in The Cornell Daily Sun‎^[6], archived from the original on 31 January 2010:

     […] contemporary artist Peggy Preheim, whose pencilwork, sculpture and photography reflect each other in engaging ways.