[pen.cil] n [ME pensel, fr. MF pincel, fr. (assumed) VL penicellus, alter. of L penicillus, dim. of peniculus brush, fr. dim. of penis tail, penis] (14c) 1: an artist's brush
2: an artist's individual skill or style 3 a: an implement for writing, drawing, or marking consisting of or containing a slender cylinder or strip of a solid marking substance b: a small medicated or cosmetic roll or stick for local applications
4: a set of geometric objects each pair of which has a common property "the lines in a plane through a point comprise a ~ of lines"
5: something (as a beam of radiation) long and thin like a pencil
[2]pencil vt -ciled or -cilled ; -cil.ing or -cil.ling (ca. 1532): to paint, draw, write, or mark with a pencil