Word.ws English Dictionary

keelyvine pen

keelyvine pen noun: a pencil of black lead.

Noun

keelyvine pen (plural keelyvine pens)

  1. (Scotland, dialectal, obsolete) A pencil of black lead.
    • Put up your pocket-book and your keelyvine pen then, for I downa speak out an' ye hae writing materials in your hands1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and...
    • This article, if finished at all, must be written with the keelavine pen on the backs of old letters—whereof, thank heaven! we have scores unanswered—by fits and snatches, as we repose from our labours on the gree-sward;.1846 November 14, Christopher North, “Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands”, in The Anglo American, volume 8, number 4, page 85

Forms of keelyvine pen

pluralkeelyvine pens
alternative formkeelavine pen
alternative formkeelivine pen

Origin of keelyvine pen

Compare Scottish Gaelic cìl (“ruddle”).

Questions about keelyvine pen

What does keelyvine pen mean?
Keelyvine pen means a pencil of black lead.
What part of speech is keelyvine pen?
Keelyvine pen is a noun.
What is the plural of keelyvine pen?
The plural of keelyvine pen is keelyvine pens.

Words near keelyvine pen in the dictionary

  1. keelson
  2. keelsons
  3. Keelung
  4. keely
  5. Keelys
  6. keelyvine pen
  7. keelyvine pens
  8. Keem
  9. keema
  10. keemas
  11. Keemun

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keelyvine pen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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