I. ˈpen(t)sə̇l noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English pensel, pencel, from Middle French pincel, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin penicellus, from Latin penicillus brush, pencil, literally, little tail, diminutive of penis tail, penis — more at penis
1. : a brush of hair or bristles used to lay on colors ; especially : a small brush for fine art work
2. : the individual style or technique of an artist or descriptive writer
3. : a tufted growth (as of hair or feathers)
4.
a. : an implement for writing, drawing, or marking made of or containing a slender rod or strip of a solid marking substance:
(1) : a stick of marking substance (as chalk, slate) often encased in paper — see grease pencil
(2) : a wooden rod containing a core of marking substance exposed at one end by sharpening and often having an eraser on the other end
corrected with a red pencil
a pencil sketch
— see lead pencil
(3) : a mechanical device consisting of a cylinder of metal or plastic containing a lead projected by means of a screw
b. : a small medicated or cosmetic roll or stick for local applications
a menthol pencil
c. : a writing or marking device resembling a pencil that uses another means of marking
etched by a hot electric pencil
5.
a. : an aggregate of rays of light or other radiation especially when diverging from or converging to a point
b. : the lines passing through a given point and lying on a plane
6. : something long and thin like a pencil
the flashlight sent a long, white pencil of illumination stabbing through the darkness — Erle Stanley Gardner
7. : pencil diamond
8. : graphite used as the marking substance in pencils
written in pencil rather than in ink
a page half typewritten and half pencil
II. verb
( penciled or pencilled ; penciled or pencilled ; penciling or pencilling -s(ə̇)liŋ ; pencils )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to paint, draw, shade, write, or mark with or as if with a pencil
a typewritten manuscript with corrections penciled in
: sketch
pencil in a cartoon with rapid strokes
b. : to make a tentative plan of : write (as an assignment) subject to change
had been penciled in for the lead — Budd Schulberg
2. : to treat (as a wound) by means of a medicated pencil
intransitive verb
: to take the shape of a pencil : form into pencils
rays of light penciling through the darkness
the pale smoke from the cottage chimneys pencil up — William Sansom
III.
variant of pencel