pent

See also: Pent, pent-, and -pent-

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛnt/
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Etymology 1

From pen +‎ -t.

Noun

pent (plural pents)

1. Confinement; concealment.
   • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:

     There was a catch in my voice, thick as it was with the pent of unshed tears; had I let them flow they would have come out forty per cent proof.

Adjective

pent

1. Confined in, or as if in, a pen; imprisoned.
   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     As the old woman, with a gigantic and distorted image of herself thrown half upon the wall behind her, half upon the roof above, sat bending over the few loose bricks within which it was pent, on the damp hearth of the chimney—for there was no stove—she looked as if she were watching at some witch’s altar for a favourable token; […]

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 46, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     Wherever Miss Clavering went, this infatuated young fellow continued to follow her; and being aware that his engagement to his cousin was known in the world, he was forced to make a mystery of his passion, and confine it to his own breast, so that it was so pent in there and pressed down, that it is a wonder he did not explode some day with the stormy secret, and perish collapsed after the outburst.

   • 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC:

     My object all sublime
     I shall achieve in time —
     To let the punishment fit the crime —
     The punishment fit the crime;
     And make each prisoner pent
     Unwillingly represent
     A source of innocent merriment!
     Of innocent merriment!

Usage notes

Use of bare “pent”, as in the Gilbert quotation above, has become less common over time. (Use of “pent up” or “pent in” remains about as common.)

Related terms

• pent-up

Translations

confined in a pen, imprisoned

• Bulgarian: затворен (bg) (zatvoren), запрян (bg) (zaprjan) ((в кошара))
• German: eingesperrt (de), gefangen (de), eingekerkert (de)
• Portuguese: confinado (pt) m
• Russian: запертый (ru) (zapertyj), заключённый (ru) (zaključónnyj)

Verb

pent

1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of pen; alternative form of penned

Etymology 2

Clipping of pentatonic.

Noun

pent (plural pents)

1. (informal, music) A pentatonic scale.
   • 2006 March 28, Greg Cisko, “Re: Any good solos?”, in alt.guitar.beginner‎^[1] (Usenet):

     The major pent is the same minor pent pattern only shifted down 3 frets toward the nut. Like John B told me for Sunshine of your love. Play Bm and then Dm pent and it will sound good. He also pointed out that Bm pent includes the same exact notes as DM pent. So the idea is if the song is in D, try both minor and major pents and see how it works.

Etymology 3

Clipping of pentacle or pentagram.

Noun

pent (plural pents)

1. (informal, paganism) A pentacle or pentagram.
   • 2002 August 27, Jani, “Re: Pagan Symbols.....and any others that spring to mind”, in uk.religion.pagan‎^[2] (Usenet):

     [> What symbols mean the most to you? For instance, what do you wear around your neck and why?]
     Usually, a triquetra, although I have ankhs, pents and a spell-bottle on amber beads which I wear if I find it necessary to be *really* annoying :)

See also

• pent roof (probably etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• ENTP, PETN

Danish

Adjective

pent

1. neuter singular of pen

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

pent

1. neuter singular of pen

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

pent

1. neuter singular of pen

Old French

Verb

pent

1. third-person singular present indicative of pendre

Romanian

Noun

pent m (plural penți)

1. Obsolete form of pinten.

Declension

Declension of pent

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) pent	pentul	(niște) penți	penții
genitive/dative	(unui) pent	pentului	(unor) penți	penților
vocative	pentule		penților

References

• pent in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN