n. 1. [ From Pen to shut in. ] A small inclosure; as, a pen for sheep or for pigs. [ 1913 Webster ]

My father stole two geese out of a pen. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ From penitentiary. ] A penitentiary[ 6 ]; a prison. [ Slang ] [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. penne, OF. penne, pene, F. penne, fr. L. penna. ] 1. A feather. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A wing. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An instrument used for writing with ink, formerly made of a reed, or of the quill of a goose or other bird, but now also of other materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving. [ 1913 Webster ]

Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock. Job xix. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Fig.: A writer, or his style; as, he has a sharp pen. “Those learned pens.” Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) The internal shell of a squid. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] (Zool.) A female swan; -- contrasted with cob, the male swan. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bow pen. See Bow-pen. --
Dotting pen, a pen for drawing dotted lines. --
Drawing pen, or
Ruling pen, a pen for ruling lines having a pair of blades between which the ink is contained. --
Fountain pen,
Geometric pen. See under Fountain, and Geometric. --
Music pen, a pen having five points for drawing the five lines of the staff. --
Pen and ink, or
pen-and-ink, executed or done with a pen and ink; as, a pen and ink sketch. --
Pen feather. A pin feather. [ Obs. ] --
Pen name. See under Name. --
Sea pen (Zool.), a pennatula. [ Usually written sea-pen. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Penned p. pr. & vb. n. Penning ] To write; to compose and commit to paper; to indite; to compose; as, to pen a sonnet. “A prayer elaborately penned.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Penned r Pent (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Penning. ] [ OE. pennen, AS. pennan in on-pennan to unfasten, prob. from the same source as pin, and orig. meaning, to fasten with a peg.See Pin, n. & v. ] To shut up, as in a pen or cage; to confine in a small inclosure or narrow space; to coop up, or shut in; to inclose. “Away with her, and pen her up.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. poenalis, fr. poena punishment: cf. F. pénal. See Pain. ] Of or pertaining to punishment, to penalties, or to crimes and offenses; pertaining to criminal jurisprudence: as: (a) Enacting or threatening punishment; as, a penal statue; the penal code. (b) Incurring punishment; subject to a penalty; as, a penal act or offense. (c) Inflicted as punishment; used as a means of punishment; as, a penal colony or settlement. “Adamantine chains and penal fire.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Penal code (Law), a code of laws concerning crimes and offenses and their punishment. --
Penal laws,
Penal statutes (Law), laws prohibiting certain acts, and imposing penalties for committing them. --
Penal servitude, imprisonment with hard labor, in a prison, in lieu of transportation. [ Great Brit. ] --
Penal suit,
Penal action (Law), a suit for penalties. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. LL. poenalitas. See Penalty. ] The quality or state of being penal; liability to punishment. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of punishing.
Syn. -- punishment, penalty. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. 1. To make penal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Sport.) To put a penalty on. See Penalty, 3. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Subjected to a penalty. [ Narrower terms: fined, mulcted ] [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

adv. In a penal manner. [ 1913 Webster ]