pen

Word family

Related topics: Daily life, Agriculture, Jail & punishment

pen1 /pen/ S2 noun

1 DWRITE[countableC, uncountableU] an instrument for writing or drawing with ink 〔用墨水的〕笔；钢笔 → pencil, biro

a ballpoint pen

圆珠笔

a felt-tip pen

毡头笔

in pen

Please fill out the form in pen.

请用钢笔填写此表。

a pen and ink drawing

钢笔画

→4 See picture on 见图 Page A8 In the office 办公室里 →5 see picture at 见图 office, stationery

2 TA[countableC] a small piece of land enclosed by a fence to keep farm animals in 〔围养家畜的〕栏，圈，棚

a sheep pen

羊圈

→ playpen

3. put/set pen to paper TCWRITEto begin to write 动笔

Examples from the Corpus

put/set pen to paper• Good old-fashioned motives for putting pen to paper.• In February of 1942 and again in May of that year he had put pen to paper and logged his past.• I have put pen to paper sparingly, aware that pictures speak louder than words.• So if you are fun-loving and open-minded, put pen to paper.• So why not put pen to paper and win a wardrobe of fashions.• He then put pen to paper, and soon a stream of adjectives was flowing.• And striker Geoff Ferris is likely to put pen to paper for 12 months.• I had written a very fine book in my head before arriving, without setting pen to paper.

4. [countableC] American EnglishAmE informalSCJ a short form of penitentiary / ‘penitentiary’ 的缩略式 , 监狱

5. [countableC] British EnglishBrE informal a penalty, used especially when talking about football 处罚，〔尤指足球的〕点球

Examples from the Corpus

pen• We started a lively correspondence with about five pen friends each, scribbling away under the desk in lessons.• a fountain pen• This explains those tiny hillside pens bounded by rock walls.• I then looked at the boy again, who held his pen out towards me.• No mere holding pen, this is home for these creatures.• Expect 1993 to be the year of the pen.• He threaded the pen back through her fingers, gently.• A good-looking, pre-war pen cost less than a third of its modern cousin, and wrote just as well.• She also created Write a Senior, a website that links the elderly with pen pals around the world.

in pen• Write your essays in pen not pencil.

pen2 verb (penned, penning) [transitiveT]

1 literaryWRITE to write something such as a letter, a book etc, especially using a pen 〔尤指用钢笔〕写

a song penned by George Clinton

乔治·克林顿写的歌

2 pen somebody/something ↔ up/in phrasal verbphr v

a) TADto shut an animal in a small enclosed area 把〔动物〕关入围栏中

b) be penned up/inLIMIT to be restricted or forced to remain in a small place 被约束，被束缚

Norma felt restless and penned in.

诺尔玛犹如笼中困兽，焦躁不安。

Examples from the Corpus

pen up/in• Craig and Johnson met the way practically anyone meets an inmate: They became pen pals.• Some of the small ones were ink-stained, and I realized that these had been for ink bottles and pens.• This grid enables the software to determine the position of the pen.• There was a dearth of pens that day in class.• The pen comes in it's own attractive slip case.• I m going to get a marker pen and colour in one side - hey presto, a KeaneKickmaster.• The tiny pens, scrawling in palsied traces on endless white ribbons of paper, slowly ground to a halt.• Where Peach's pen had been in the window was a cage with a snake in it, curled up on straw.

Examples from the Corpus

pen• Since his installation as bishop, he was known to personally pen all the letters of real importance to his diocese.• It's rather like the scene that I penned at the beginning of this column.• Others carried head-bundles of leaves and grass for the sheep and goats now penned behind thorn fences beside the houses.• On a different tack, Republican lawmakers have penned bills that would limit welfare benefits to teen moms.• The piece was penned by Mozart when he was eight.• Rescripts were often penned for a case, and not for the world at large.• There are plenty of exceptions, fine songwriters penning protest songs or brooding religious inquiries.• The flu kept him penned up at home for a week.

Origin pen1

1. (1200-1300) Old French penne “feather, pen”, from Latin penna “feather”

2. Old English penn

3. (1800-1900) penitentiary

pen1 nounpen2 verb

Chinese

Corpus