Penn, William BrE AmE
(1644–1718) an English leader of the ↑ Quaker s (=a Christian religious group) , who was put in prison for having unacceptable religious beliefs. After he was let out of prison, he was given some land in North America, and he established a ↑ colony there as a place of religious freedom for Quakers and others to go and live in. He called the colony ↑ Pennsylvania , and planned and built the city of ↑ Philadelphia in 1682.