pent1
- a simple past tense and past participle of pen2.
- shut in; confined.
Origin of pent1
pent2
Origin of pent2
pen1
- any of various instruments for writing or drawing with ink or a similar substance.
- a detachable metal penpoint, filled by dipping or with a quill; nib.
- such a penpoint with its penholder.
- fountain pen.
- ball-point pen.
- the pen as the instrument of writing or authorship: The pen is mightier than the sword.
- a person's style or quality of writing: He writes with a witty, incisive pen.
- a writer: I leave this story to abler pens.
- the profession of writing: a master of the pen.
- Computers. stylus(def 3).
- Ornithology.
- a quill.
- a pinfeather.
- something resembling or suggesting a feather or quill.
- Zoology. an internal, corneous or chitinous, feather-shaped structure in certain cephalopods, as the squid.
- to write with or as with a pen; put down in writing: to pen an essay.
- to draw with or as with a pen: to pen a sketch.
Origin of pen1
pen2
- a small enclosure for domestic animals.
- animals so enclosed: We have a pen of twenty sheep.
- an enclosure used for confinement or safekeeping: We have built several pens to hold our harvest of corn.
- playpen.
- bull pen.
- a dock having a protective concrete structure overhead, used to service and repair submarines.
- to confine in or as in a pen.
Origin of pen2
penta-
- a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, meaning “five” (Pentateuch); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (pentavalent).
Origin of penta-
Pent.
Examples from the Web for pent
Contemporary Examples
Perhaps so much so that he aroused whatever cruelty and anger and lunacy that Hernandez may have had pent up.
Enough demand remains “pent up,” Mulally said, that the end of Cash for Clunkers will not kill sales in the fourth quarter.
Historical Examples
In the burst of merriment, his pent feelings found their vent.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
What pent malice often is masked by smiling social courtesies!
Oswald LangdonCarson Jay Lee
His friend's reply came with the pent promptitude of a gun going off.
The Innocence of Father BrownG. K. Chesterton
It was pent, it was dying of confinement, it was breathing with only a tithe of its tissue.
Child and CountryWill Levington Comfort
We were pent up in the castle by the Danes till our provisions failed.
Dramatic Reader for Lower GradesFlorence Holbrook
pent
- a past tense and past participle of pen 2
PEN
- International Association of Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists
penta-
- fivepentagon; pentameter; pentaprism
Word Origin
pen1
- an implement for writing or drawing using ink, formerly consisting of a sharpened and split quill, and now of a metal nib attached to a holderSee also ballpoint, fountain pen
- the writing end of such an implement; nib
- style of writing
- the pen
- writing as an occupation
- the written wordthe pen is mightier than the sword
- the long horny internal shell of a squid
- (tr) to write or compose
Word Origin
pen2
- an enclosure in which domestic animals are keptsheep pen
- any place of confinement
- a dock for servicing submarines, esp one having a bombproof roof
- (tr) to enclose or keep in a pen
Word Origin
pen3
- US and Canadian informal short for penitentiary (def. 1)
pen4
- a female swan
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for pent
adj.
"kept in, confined," 1540s, variant of penned, past participle of pen (v.2). Pent-up (also pent up) is from 1580s.
pen
n.1
"writing implement," late 13c., from Old French pene "quill pen; feather" (12c.) and directly from Latin penna "a feather, plume," in plural "a wing," in Late Latin, "a pen for writing," from Old Latin petna, pesna, from PIE *pet-na-, suffixed form of root *pet- "to rush; to fly" (see petition (n.)).
Latin penna and pinna "a feather, plume;" in plural "a wing;" also "a pinnacle; battlement" (see pin (n.)) are treated as identical in Watkins, etc., but regarded as separate (but confused) Latin words by Tucker and others, who derive pinna from PIE *spei- "sharp point" (cf. spike (n.1)) and see the "feather/wing" sense as secondary.
In later French, this word means only "long feather of a bird," while the equivalent of English plume is used for "writing implement," the senses of the two words thus are reversed from the situation in English. Pen-and-ink (adj.) is attested from 1670s. Pen name is recorded from mid-19c.
pen
n.2
"enclosure for animals," Old English penn, penne, "enclosure, pen, fold," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Old English pinn "pin, peg" (see pin (n.)) on notion of a bolted gate or else "structure made of pointed stakes."
penta-
word-forming element meaning "five, containing five," from Greek penta- (before a vowel pent-), comb. form of pente "five," related to Aeolian pempte (see five), with -a- by analogy of hepta-, ennea-, deka-.
pen
v.1
late 15c., from pen (n.). Related: Penned; penning.
pen
v.2
"to enclose in a pen," c.1200, from Old English *pennian, from the source of pen (n.2). Related: Penned; penning.
pen
n.3
slang, "prison," 1884, shortening of penitentiary; earlier use (1845) probably is a figurative extension of pen (n.2).
penta-
- Five:pentameter.
- Containing five atoms, molecules, or groups:pentose.
Idioms and Phrases with pent
pen
see slip of the lip (pen).