Word Direct Answers

What does "pencil" mean?

Pencil: A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, colored chalk, slate etc., or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, -- used for drawing or writing. See Graphite.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.
  2. 3.(Opt.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
  3. 4.(Geom.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point.
  4. 5.(Med.) A small medicated bougie. Pencil case, a holder for pencil lead. -- Pencil flower (Bot.), an American perennial leguminous herb (Stylosanthes elatior). -- Pencil lead, a slender rod of black lead, or the like, adapted for insertion in a holder.
  5. 6.To write or mark with a pencil; to paint or to draw. Cowper. Where nature pencils butterflies on flowers. Harte.

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