pen n.1
1. the penis [resemblance].
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Lusty Juventus Eii: I wyll trill the bones while I haue one grote, And when there is no more inke in the pen, I will make shift as well as other men. | |
| Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 58: [He is ready] to lend his Mistresse suche a penne in hir Secretaries absence, as he should never be able at his returne to amende the well writing thereof. | |
| Merchant of Venice V i: I’ll mar the young clerk’s pen. | |
| Revenger’s Tragedy (1967) II ii: This vicious old Duke’s worthily abused, The pen of his bastard writes him cuckold. | |
| Greenes Tu Quoque Scene xvii: spend.: Set your hand to this [...] Heere’s pen and incke, you see I come provided. wid.: Give me the penne. spend.: Why, here’s some comfort. | |
| Welsh Embassador I iii: [I am] loath to grubb my Penn wholly in a womans busines. | |
| Vow-breaker IV ii: [Of a new-born baby] Carries it an English Pen, and Inke-horne Or a dutch watch tankard? | |
| Parliament of Ladies B: Every Gun must have a rammer, and every pen must be dipped in Ink. | |
| ‘A Creature ffor ffeature’ in Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript of Loose and Humorous Songs (1868) 54: Alas, I cold not raise! [...] his inke was run, his pen was done. | |
 | Town-Misses Declaration 4: [They] have no more Ink left in their Pens for our Service. | |
| in Works (1999) 37: ‘On Mrs. Willis’ I’ll write upon a double clout, / And dip my pen in flowers. | |
| Auction 4: But suppose there should be no Ink in the Pen. Non-performance, or an Assafetid Breath should be the occasion. | |
| in Pills to Purge Melancholy II 170: No bargain without Writing; In Rapture then clap too your Pen. | |
| ‘The Original black Joke. Sent from Dublin’ 🎵 The Lawyer his clients cause wd quit / To dip his pen in the bottomless pit / Of a Coal black &c. | |
| Belle’s Stratagem 17: My Letty would never sacrifice her pretty little Mount Pleasant to any of those news-paper rattlesnakes, if it was n‘t to soften their venemous pens. | |
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 6 Aug. 639/2: She asked him for a pen, which he brought to her, saying, ‘There is one that will suit you,’ and he then took indecent liberties with her person . | |
| song title in Libertine’s Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) I 143: The Gentleman’s Pen and the Lady’s Ink-Stand! | |
| ‘The Original “Black Joke”’ Rambler’s Flash Songster 19: The lawyer his cause and brief will quit / To dip his pen in a bottomless pit. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Call House Madam (1943) 381: I’d fill my pen to the brim again / When I dipped in sweet Nellie’s well! | |
| (con. 1940s) Liza’s England (1996) 252: A man dips his pen in the inkwell, and you’re left reading the message for the next eighteen years. | |
| The Force [ebook] ‘I hear you’re dipping your pen in the inkwell. And I hear you ain’t the only white horse she ride, your Miss Claudette’. |
2. the vagina [in dial., used of a sow].
| DSUE (8th edn) 867/1: mid-C.19–early 20. |
3. see penman
In compounds
the vagina.
| Sl. and Its Analogues. |
In phrases
to be impotent.
| Lusty Juventus in Dodsley II (1874) 92: And, when there is no more ink in the pen, / I will make shift, as well as other men. | |
| Banquet of Wit 85: A modest gentlewoman being compelled by her mother to accuse her husband insufficiency [...] humbly desired the judge that she might write her mind and not be obliged to speak it [...] the clerk was immediately ordered to give her pen, ink and paper; whereupon she took the pen, without dipping it into the ink, and made as if she would write; says the clerk to her, ‘madam, there’s no ink in your pen;’ truly, says she ‘that’s just my case and therefore I need to not explain any farther’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Dead Bird (Sydney) 16 Nov. 2/2: Then the lawyer said, ‘My dear lady, you have no ink in your pen.’ She put down the pen [...] and impressively said, ‘Ah, that’s just the circumstances of my case — you understand!’. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see pen-pusher n.
1. (UK/US Und., also pen) a forger, esp. of counterfeit notes, chques, etc.
| Sun (NY) 31 Aug. 2/5: Mr Nee [...] demonstrates that Stanley is a skilful penman and an adept forger. | |
| Salt Lake Herald (UT) 14 Sept. 2/2: At the Omaha National; Bank may be seen a $20 bill executed entirely with a pen by some expert penman and forger. | |
| Ups and Downs of a Crook’s Life 69: Billy Knapp pronounced it a first-class name, and at once sent it to the forger. Next day it came back from the pen-man, made out to the amount of three thousand dollars. | |
| Our Rival, the Rascal 154: Expert forgers are necessarily artists in the use of the pen and really good penmen have an almost insuperable difficulty in feigning to be bad writers. | |
| Tales of the Old Regime 10: The publican looked up to the ‘penman’. | |
| Marvel III:55 11: Jem Harlow, in criminal circles, ranked very high as a ‘penman’ – the polite term for forger. | |
| N.Y. Tribune 15 Dec. 20/2: [headline] Seek Skilful Forger Penman For Gang that Got About $100,000. | |
| Amer. Madam (1981) 175: The paper dealer, the penman, the cheque forger is usually well dressed, well spoken. | |
| Phenomena in Crime 55: The last place in the world the sleuths would be expected to search for the penman. | |
| Und. Nights 81: Some penmen trace, some use a pen with two nibs, one of which has no ink in it. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 812: pen man – A forger [...] pen – A forger, one who uses a pen. |
2. (US prison) an inmate who writes letters to the authorities, presumably informing on his fellows.
| ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 440: penman, n. An inmate informer who write notes to the prison officials. |
3. (US) a forger of false signatures etc. on cheques and credit cards.
| Sharpe of the Flying Squad 297: As soon as they get some cheques or ‘kites,’ as they call them, they are rushed off to the ‘penman’ or ‘scribe,’ whose task is that of taking out crosses on them, enlarging the figures and preparing suitable letters to the bank asking them to cash the cheques. | |
| Snowblind (1978) 236: He operates an apparatus by which he can get the cards and cheques out of town fast with teams of professional penmen. |
see separate entry.
see separate entries.
see pen-pusher n.
1. (UK juv.) a scholastic gown, coat; thus as a nickname for an academic [‘The “pen-wiper”, a small piece of folded silk which is attached to the back of the proctor’s gown [at Oxford]’ (OED)].
| Letters from Cambridge 47: He was as mad as a bear and [...] complained to my Tutor. Old Penwiper came up and [...] said it was disgraceful. | |
| Boy’s Own Paper 20 Oct. 37: He carried them about in the inside pocket of the ‘penwiper’. |
2. a handkerchief.
| Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 14/3: The landlord then mopped up all traces of the bloody fray with a pen-wiper, the combatants filed down to the chemists for arnica, and so ended one of the most sanguinary battles ever fought on this side of the equinoctial line. |
In phrases
(US prison) of a prisoner, to tell an officer to file a disciplinary report; of officers, to tell a prisoner to file a grievance.
| Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Put Your Pen to the Wind: By prisoners, to tell an officer to go ahead and write a disciplinary report. By officers, to tell prisoners to go ahead and file a grievance. |