Pen (?), n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna.] 1. A feather. Spenser.
2. A wing. Milton.
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. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. “Those learned pens.” Fuller.
5. (Zoöl.) The internal shell of a squid.
6. (Zoöl.) A female swan.
Bow pen. See Bow-pen. — Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. — Drawing, orRuling, pen, a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. — Fountain pen, Geometric pen. See under Fountain, and Geometric. — Music pen, a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff. — Pen and ink, orpen-and-ink, executed or done with a pen and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch. — Pen feather. A pin feather. — Pen name. See under Name. — Sea pen(Zoöl.), a pennatula. [Usually written sea-pen.]