pencill (pensil)

[Early mod. E. also pensil, pensill; = Pr. pinzel = Sp. Pg. pin a tail. The word seems to have been as so ciated more or le with L. penna, a feather, LL. a pen: see pen2.] 1. A small fine brush, such as may be used by a painter in laying on paints; technically, a special type of pointed brush the hairs of which are held by a quill ferrule with a wooden handle which is often detachable. The hair may be sable, fitch, camel's hair, or ox-hair, and may be brought to a point or be square on the IMG:content-2607.png:[blocks in formation] 3. An instrument for marking, drawing, or writing, formed of graphite, colored chalk, or material of similar properties, and having a tapering end; specifically, a thin strip of such substance inclosed in a cylinder of soft wood or in a metal case with a tapering end.-4. Writing done with a pencil, as distinguished from that done with ink: as, a note written in pencil.-5. In optics, all the rays of light which diverge from or converge to a given point. The pencils of rays proceeding from the different points of a visible object. D. Stewart , Outlines of Moral Philosophy, § 22. About half-past eleven, a pencil of bright red light shot up-a signal which the sun uplifted to herald his coming. B. Taylor , Northern Travel, p. 132. 6. In geom ., the figure formed by a number of lines which meet in one point.-7. In zoöl . , a tuft or little brush, as of hair or feathers. Also called penicillium . - Aniline pencil. See aniline . Axial pencil, in geom ., the figure formed by a number of planes pa ing through a given line, which is called the base or axis of the axial pencil. - Center of a flat pencil. See center1 . - Diamond, hair, harmonic, etc., pencil. See the adjectives. — Flat pencil, the aggregate of straight lines lying in one plane and pa ing through one point.Metallic pencil, a pencil made of an alloy of tin, lead, and bismuth. The paper to be written on with it is prepared with bone-ash. - Pencil of curves, the aggregate of plane curves of a given order, say the nth, pa ing through n points, of which in ( n -3)-1 are independent. - Pencil of planes, the aggregate of all the planes pa ing through a given line. - Pencil of surfaces, the aggregate of all the surfaces pa ing through the same fun damental non-plane curve. (See also copying -pencil, lead pencil, slate - pencil .) pencill (pen's il), v. t.; pret. and pp. penciled, pen cilled, ppr. penciling, pencilling. [ Pencill'd pensivene and colour'd sorrow.