penmen

Noun

penman (plural penmen)

1. A scribe, or a person who copies texts.
2. A person with writing skills; a journalist or other author.
   • [T]he holy Pen-men of the Nevv Teſtament ſeem to have borrovv'd and apply'd it [the word mystery] to ſome of the Great and Arduous Truths of Chriſtianity, ſuch as human Reaſon cannot give a clear and explicit Account of.1693, [Robert South], chapter I, in Animadversions upon Dr. Sherlock’s Book, Entituled A Vindication of the Holy and Ever-blessed Trinity, &c. […], London: […] Randal Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 2
3. (slang) A forger.
   • Forgers, counterfeiters (penmen) and other such intellectuals have a certain standing in the underworld and even pickpockets are respected more or less as the masters of a difficult art, but they do not rank with the princes of the big con […][1962, H. L. Mencken, The American Language, supplement 2, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, →OCLC, page 669

See all 4 meanings of penman