Pencil

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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 [gcide]:

  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 WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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 : write, draw, or trace with a pencil; "he penciled a figure"
       [also: {pencilling}, {pencilled}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  PENCIL
       
          Pictorial ENCodIng Language.  On-line system to display line
          structures.  Sammet 1969, 675.
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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.