The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pencil \Pen"cil\, n. [OF. pincel, F. pinceau, L. penicillum, penicillus, equiv. to peniculus, dim. of penis a tail. Cf. Penicil.]
-
A small, fine brush of hair or bristles used by painters for laying on colors.
With subtile pencil depainted was this storie.
--Chaucer. 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.
Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.
(Opt.) An aggregate or collection of rays of light, especially when diverging from, or converging to, a point.
(Geom.) A number of lines that intersect in one point, the point of intersection being called the pencil point.
-
(Med.) A small medicated bougie.
Pencil case, a holder for pencil lead.
Pencil flower (Bot.), an American perennial leguminous herb ( Stylosanthes elatior).
Pencil lead, a slender rod of black lead, or the like, adapted for insertion in a holder.
Wiktionary
n. The material (usually black or dark gray) which allows a pencil to work. Usually a mixture of graphite and smaller amounts of other material, but not actual lead.
WordNet
n. mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil [syn: lead]
Usage examples of "pencil lead".
Returning to the altar, he lays the frail page over the top of the gold bar, then rubs the side of the pencil lead back and forth over it, turning it all black except for where the stamped numbers and characters are underneath.
As I watched him finesse intricate patterns from needle and thread, I realized that this was no more remarkable-and no less-than his ability to summon detailed drawings from pencil lead with these same short broad hands and stubby fingers.
Arthur took out the world's smallest notebook and a piece of pencil lead.
Rhyme glanced at Cooper, who shone a bright light at an acute angle on the second sheet in the logthis, rather than covering the page with pencil lead, was the preferred method to raise impression evidence.
It was a steel pen that held captive a piece of indelible pencil lead.
As Owen and I had discovered: at the New Hampshire-Quebec border, there's little to see-just forests, for miles, and a thin road so beaten by the winter that it is bruised to the color of pencil lead and pockmarked with frost heaves.
A small hole, blackened as if with pencil lead, pitted the center of my right palm.
It clung to the oils of her hand and looked like pencil lead, shiny on her fingers, like graphite.
It was no more than a roll of cloth with a handle made from a scrap of string, but it was big enough to hold a few matches, some pieces of pencil lead, a tiny sliver of a broken knife blade for sharpening the leads, and a grubby piece of paper.