pencil
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
pencil
n 1: a thin cylindrical pointed writing implement; a rod of
marking substance encased in wood
2: graphite (or a similar substance) used in such a way as to be
a medium of communication; "the words were scribbled in
pencil"; "this artist's favorite medium is pencil"
3: a figure formed by a set of straight lines or light rays
meeting at a point
4: a cosmetic in a long thin stick; designed to be applied to a
particular part of the face; "an eyebrow pencil"
v 1: write, draw, or trace with a pencil; "he penciled a figure"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Pencil \Pen"cil\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penciled}or {Pencilled};
p. pr. & vb. n. {Penciling} or {Pencilling}.]
To write or mark with a pencil; to paint or to draw.
--Cowper.
[1913 Webster]
Where nature pencils butterflies on flowers. --Harte.
[1913 Webster]
{pencil in} to write (a tentative appoinment) on an
appointment calendar, so as to reserve time, but to allow
the appointment to be readily canceled and replaced with
another; -- also used figuratively, with other means of
recording appointments. The notion being that something
written in pencil can be more easily changed than
something written in ink. The phrase is commonly used in
the early stages of organizing a meeting of multiple
persons, before it is known whether all attendees will be
free at the suggested time.
[PJC]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Pencil \Pen"cil\, n. [OF. pincel, F. pinceau, L. penicillum,
penicillus, equiv. to peniculus, dim. of penis a tail. Cf.
{Penicil}.]
1. A small, fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters
for laying on colors.
[1913 Webster]
With subtile pencil depainted was this storie.
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
2. A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, graphite,
colored 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}.
[1913 Webster]
3. Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar
manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the
artist, descriptive writer, etc.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Opt.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light,
especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Geom.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the
point of intersection being called the pencil point.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Med.) A small medicated bougie.
[1913 Webster]
{Pencil case}, a holder for pencil lead.
{Pencil flower} (Bot.), an American perennial leguminous herb
({Stylosanthes elatior}).
{Pencil lead}, a slender rod of black lead, or the like,
adapted for insertion in a holder.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PENCIL. An instrument made of plumbago, black lead, red chalk, or other
suitable substance, for writing without ink.
2. It has been holden that a will written with a pencil, could riot, on
this account, be annulled. 1 Phillim. R. 1; 2 Phillim. 173.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
175 Moby Thesaurus words for "pencil":
X ray, actinic ray, actinism, air brush, art paper, atomic beam,
atomic ray, beam, beam of light, blaze, blaze a trail, blemish,
blotch, brand, brush, camera lucida, camera obscura, canvas,
cartoon, chalk, chalk up, charcoal, check, check off, cicatrize,
color, copy, copy out, crayon, crosshatch, dapple, dash, dash off,
daub, define, delimit, delineate, demarcate, depict, design,
diagram, discolor, doodle, dot, draft, draw, draw up,
drawing paper, drawing pencil, drier, easel, edit, enface, engrave,
engross, fixative, fleck, freckle, gamma ray, gash, genre, gleam,
ground, hatch, impress, imprint, infrared ray, inscribe,
invisible radiation, lay figure, leam, limn, line, lines,
make a mark, make a recension, make out, mark, mark off, mark out,
maulstick, medium, mottle, movement, nick, notch, paint,
paint a picture, paintbrush, palette, palette knife, pastel, patch,
pen, pepper, photon, picture, picturize, pigments, point, portray,
prick, print, punch, punctuate, puncture, push the pen,
put in writing, radiation, radiorays, ray, ray of light, recense,
record, revise, rewrite, ribbon, ribbon of light, riddle, scar,
scarify, school, score, scotch, scratch, scratchboard, scribe,
scrive, scroll, scumble, seal, seam, shade, siccative, sketch,
sketchbook, sketchpad, solar rays, spatula, speck, speckle,
spill ink, splotch, spoil paper, spot, spray gun, stain, stamp,
stencil, stigmatize, streak, stream, stream of light, streamer,
striate, stripe, stump, style, superscribe, tattoo,
the grand style, tick, tick off, tint, trace, transcribe, type,
ultraviolet ray, underline, underscore, varnish, violet ray, write,
write down, write out
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