penneth

Verb (1)

pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned or pent)

1. (transitive) To enclose in a pen.
   • Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

Verb (2)

pen (third-person singular simple present pens, present participle penning, simple past and past participle penned)

1. (transitive) To write (an article, a book, etc.).
   • Prying open the crate, you discover a carefully wrapped, handwritten copy of one of Matriarch Dilinaga's treatises. It is unlikely she penned it herself, but the flowing brushwork and intricate watercolor illustrations clearly show the hand of a master scribe.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nonuel
2. (transitive, uncommon) To write or draw on (a surface) with a pen.
   • I penned up the walls with obscenities1973 May 5, Lou Sullivan, Diary

See all 19 meanings of pen

Noun

pennyworth (plural pennyworths)

1. The amount that can be bought for a penny.
   • She was learned in decocting all kinds of herb-tea, infallible in curing burns, sprains, and scalds ; and not a few pennyworths of gingerbread and paradise (for the latter she was very famous) went among her young customers, for which the till was never the richer.1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Knife, page 127
2. A small quantity or value.
   • VVhy Lambe, vvhy Lady, fie you ſluggabed, / VVhy Loue I ſay, Madam, ſvveeteheart, vvhy Bride: / VVhat not a vvord, you take your pennivvorths novv, / Sleepe for a vveeke, […]c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v]

   Synonyms:

   halfpennyworth, tuppence worth, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, bit

3. (dated) A good bargain.
   • VVilt thou purchaſe it Nic.? thou ſhalt have a lumping Pennyvvorth; nay, rather than vve ſhould differ, I'll give thee ſomething to take it off my Hands.1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “The Discourse that Pass’d between Nic. Frog and Esquire South, which John Bull Overheard”, in Lewis Baboon Turned Honest, and John Bull...