ballpoint pen

[bawl-point pen]

noun

1. a pen in which the point is a fine ball bearing that rotates against a supply of semisolid ink in a cartridge, thus rolling the ink onto paper.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ballpoint pen¹

First recorded in 1945–50; ball ¹ + point

Example Sentences

He called her every day and kept a diary, sketching rap lyrics and poems in blue ballpoint pen.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Dahl, who was born in the Cardiff suburb of Llandaff, produced the sketches in black ballpoint pen for the book Boy, which was published in 1984.

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Mitchell has been drawing for as long as he can remember, but it was a high school classmate pointing out the permanent nature of a ballpoint pen that led to his aha moment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Following a scoreless draw against the LA Galaxy at Lumen Field Sunday, the longtime Sounders coach compulsively clicked a ballpoint pen and lamented his team’s lack of belief.

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His pictures from that time are in blue ballpoint pen on pieces of paper torn out of notebooks — that’s all Kostenko had.

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