Pe*nang" nut` (?). [From the native name.] (Bot.) The betel nut.
Balfour (Cyc. of India).
Pen*an"nu*lar (?), a. [L. pene, paene, almost + E. annular.] Nearly
annular; having nearly the form of a ring. "Penannular relics." D.
Wilson.
Pe"na*ry (?), a. Penal. [Obs.] Gauden.
||Pe*na"tes (?), n. pl. [L.] (Rom. Antiq.) The household gods of the
||ancient Romans. They presided over the home and the family hearth.
||See Lar.
Pen"aunt (?), n. [OF. penant, peneant. See Penitent.] A penitent.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
Pence (?), n., pl. of Penny. See Penny.
Pen"cel (?), n. [See Pennoncel.] A small, narrow flag or streamer borne
at the top of a lance; -- called also pennoncel. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Chaucer.
||Pen`chant" (?), n. [F., fr. pencher to bend, fr. (assumed) LL.
||pendicare, L. pendere. See Pendant.] Inclination; decided taste;
||bias; as, a penchant for art.
Pen"chute` (?), n. See Penstock.
Pen"cil (?), n. [OF. pincel, F. pinceau, L. penicillum, penicillus,
equiv. to peniculus, dim. of penis a tail. Cf. Penicil.] 1. A small,
fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters for laying on colors.
With subtile pencil depainted was this storie.
Chaucer.
2. A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, colored chalk, slate
etc., or such a cylinder or strip inserted in a small wooden rod
intended to be pointed, or in a case, which forms a handle, -- used for
drawing or writing. See Graphite.
3. Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also,
in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer,
etc.
4. (Opt.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when
diverging from, or converging to, a point.
5. (Geom.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of
intersection being called the pencil point.