| pen | 1. A feather. 2. A wing. 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. "Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock." (Job xix. 24) 4. A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. "Those learned pens." 5. <zoology> The internal shell of a squid. 6. [Etymol. Uncertain. <zoology> A female swan. Bow pen. See Bow-pen. Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. Drawing, or Ruling, pen, a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. Fountain pen, Geometric pen. See 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. Pen name. See Name. <zoology> Sea pen, a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen. Origin: OE. Penne, OF. Penne, pene, F. Penne, fr. L. Penna. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| penance | 1. Repentance. 2. Pain; sorrow; suffering. "Joy or penance he feeleth none." 3. A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. "And bitter penance, with an iron whip." (Spenser) "Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, And penance more will do."" (Coleridge) Origin: OF. Penance, peneance, L. Paenitentia repentance. See Penitence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| penang nut | <botany> The betel nut. Origin: From the native name. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| penates | The household gods of the ancient Romans. They presided over the home and the family hearth. See Lar. Origin: L. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| penbutolol | <chemical> A nonselective beta-blocker used as an antihypertensive and an antianginal agent. Pharmacological action: adrenergic beta-antagonists, anti-arrhythmia agents, antihypertensive agents, sympatholytics. Chemical name: 2-Propanol, 1-(2-cyclopentylphenoxy)-3-((1,1-dimethylethyl)amino)- (12 Dec 1998) |
| pencil | 1. A small, fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters for laying on colours. "With subtile pencil depainted was this storie." (Chaucer) 2. A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, coloured chalk, slate etc, or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, used for drawing or writing. See Graphite. 3. Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc. 4. <optics> An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point. 5. <geometry> A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point. 6. <medicine> A small medicated bougie. Pencil case, a holder for pencil lead. <botany> Pencil flower, an American perennial leguminous herb (Stylosanthes elatior). Pencil lead, a slender rod of black lead, or the like, adapted for insertion in a holder. Origin: OF. Pincel, F. Pinceau, L. Penicillum, penicillus, equiv. To peniculus, dim. Of penis a tail. Cf. Penicil. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| penciled | 1. Painted, drawn, sketched, or marked with a pencil. 2. Radiated; having pencils of rays. 3. Marked with parallel or radiating lines. Origin: Written also pencilled. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pencraft | 1. Penmanship; skill in writing; chirography. 2. The art of composing or writing; authorship. "I would not give a groat for that person's knowledge in pencraft." (Sene) Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pendant | 1. Something which hangs or depends; something suspended; a hanging appendage, especially one of an ornamental character; as to a chandelier or an eardrop; also, an appendix or addition, as to a book. "Some hang upon the pendants of her ear." (Pope) "Many . . . Have been pleased with this work and its pendant, the Tales and Popular Fictions." (Keightley) 2. A hanging ornament on roofs, ceilings, etc, much used in the later styles of Gothic architecture, where it is of stone, and an important part of the construction. There are imitations in plaster and wood, which are mere decorative features. "[A bridge] with . . . Pendants graven fair." 3. One of a pair; a counterpart; as, one vase is the pendant to the other vase. 4. A pendulum. 5. The stem and ring of a watch, by which it is suspended. Pendant post, a part of the framing of an open timber roof; a post set close against the wall, and resting upon a corbel or other solid support, and supporting the ends of a collar beam or any part of the roof. Origin: F, orig. P.pr. Of pendre to hang, L. Pendere. Cf. Pendent, Pansy, Pensive, Poise, Ponder. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| pendelluft | Transient movement of gas out of some alveoli and into others when flow has just stopped at the end of inspiration, or such movement in the opposite direction just at the end of expiration; occurs when regions of the lung differ in compliance, airway resistance, or inertance so that the time constants of their filling (or emptying) in response to a change of transpulmonary pressure are not the same. Origin: Ger. Pendel, pendulum, + Luft, air (05 Mar 2000) |
| pendent | 1. Supported from above; suspended; depending; pendulous; hanging; as, a pendent leaf. "The pendent world." "Often their tresses, when shaken, with pendent icicles tinkle." (Longfellow) 2. Jutting over; projecting; overhanging. "A vapor sometime like a . . . Pendent rock." Origin: L. Pendens, -entis, p.pr. Of pendere to hang, to be suspended. Cf. Pendant. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Pendred's syndrome | <syndrome> A type of familial goiter; congenital nerve deafness with goiter (usually small) due to defective organic binding of iodine in the thyroid; afflicted individuals are usually euthyroid; autosomal recessive inheritance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Pendred, Vaughan | <person> English surgeon, 1869-1946. See: Pendred's syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pendular movement | A to-and-fro movement of the intestine, without any propelling or peristaltic action, whereby the contents are churned and thoroughly mixed with the intestinal ferments. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pendular nystagmus | A nystagmus that, in most positions of gaze, has oscillations equal in speed and amplitude, usually arising from a visual disturbance. (05 Mar 2000) |
| sea-pen | <zoology> A pennatula. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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