\Pen\, n. [OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L.
penna.]
1. A feather. [Obs.] --Spenser.
2. A wing. [Obs.] --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. (Zo["o]l.) The internal shell of a squid.
6. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Zo["o]l.) A female swan. [Prov.
   Eng.]
{Bow pen}. See {Bow-pen}.
{Dotting pen}, a pen for drawing dotted lines.
{Drawing}, or {Ruling}, {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}, or {pen-and-ink}, executed or done with a pen
   and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch.
{Pen feather}. A pin feather. [Obs.]
{Pen name}. See under {Name}.
{Sea pen} (Zo["o]l.), a pennatula. [Usually written
   {sea-pen}.]

\Pen\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Penning}.]
To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to
compose; as, to pen a sonnet. ``A prayer elaborately
penned.'' --Milton.

\Pen\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Penned}or {Pent} (?); p. pr. &
vb. n. {Penning}.] [OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on-pennan to
unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig.
meaning, to fasten with a peg.See {Pin}, n. & v.]
To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small
inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to
inclose. ``Away with her, and pen her up.'' --Shak.
      Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.
                                               --Milton.

\Pen\, n. [From {Pen} to shut in.]
A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs.
      My father stole two geese out of a pen.  --Shak.