<B>penny-a-liner, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who writes, as for a newspaper, at a penny a line or some low rate; hack writer. </DL>
<A NAME="pennyante">
<B>penny ante,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any variety of poker in which, by agreement between the players, the ante for each hand is set at one cent or some other trifling sum. <BR> <I>Ex. Swede spent many an hour at the Belle Springs Creamery playing penny ante poker with Night Foreman Eisenhower during the long, lonely night shift (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyante">
<B>penny-ante, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> indicating something of little value or importance; cheap. <BR> <I>Ex. a penny-ante salary.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyarcade">
<B>penny arcade,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a place of cheap amusements where the games of chance, pinball machines, and the like, originally cost a penny a play. </DL>
<A NAME="pennybank">
<B>penny bank,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a savings bank at which a sum as low as a penny may be deposited. <BR> <I>Ex. A penny bank, for savings of amounts too small to be received at the ordinary savings banks, was opened in Jersey on the 1st of January, 1862 (David T. Ansted).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a small metal, plastic, or ceramic container for saving pennies or small coins. <BR> <I>Ex. "I've got the patent on a penny bank--it's a plastic reproduction of an old iron bank" (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennycress">
<B>pennycress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a cruciferous herb with flat, round pods, found throughout Europe and temperate Asia. <BR> <I>Ex. I found a plant of pennycress in a piece of waste ground (G. Travers).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennydreadful">
<B>penny dreadful,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a piece of cheap, sensational fiction, especially a novel or novelette in magazine form or paperback, characterized by violent episodes and maudlin sentiment. <BR> <I>Ex. The country was also flooded with an unprecedented quantity of shilling shockers, penny dreadfuls, and popular magazines (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyfarthing">
<B>penny-farthing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an early form of bicycle having a large front wheel and a small rear one. </DL>
<A NAME="pennyfee">
<B>penny fee,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) small wages paid in money. </DL>
<A NAME="pennygaff">
<B>penny gaff,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British Slang.) a cheap theater or music hall. </DL>
<A NAME="pennypaper">
<B>penny paper,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a newspaper of the 1800's that sold for a penny. </DL>
<A NAME="pennypincher">
<B>penny pincher,</B> or <B>penny-pincher, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a stingy person; person who does not spend or use money freely. <BR> <I>Ex. Like so many other men of means, he was a penny pincher (New Yorker).</I> (SYN) miser, skinflint. </DL>
<A NAME="pennypinching">
<B>penny-pinching, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>noun </I> an exercising of care in the spending of money; being stingy. <BR> <I>Ex. Penny-pinching is fine as far as it goes, but it is the whole inflated balloon of Government that really needs to be pinched (Wall Street Journal).</I> (SYN) stinginess. <DD><I>adj. </I> niggardly with money; tight; stingy. <BR> <I>Ex. a penny-pinching state legislature.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyplain">
<B>penny-plain, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> plain and unpretentious. <BR> <I>Ex. "The Wanting Seed" is far less disastrous, but in its penny-plain style, it ... can be ranked with ... Orwell and Huxley (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennypost">
<B>penny post,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the postal system, called such in the days when mail traveled for a penny. </DL>
<A NAME="pennypress">
<B>penny press,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> newspapers produced in the 1800's for the general public rather than for select or literary readers and selling for a penny each. <BR> <I>Ex. The penny press dogged the Princess' footsteps, struggling to make significant gossip of every transient expression (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyroyal">
<B>pennyroyal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of various plants of the mint family, especially: <DD><B> a. </B>a perennial European herb having small aromatic leaves. <DD><B> b. </B>a similar American herb that yields a pungent oil formerly much used as a mosquito repellent and medicinally; fleamint. <DD><B> 2. </B>a fragrant oil made from either plant. </DL>
<A NAME="pennystock">
<B>penny stock,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> stock offered for sale for less than a dollar per share, often for only a few cents. <BR> <I>Ex. In a move to eliminate racketeers in penny stocks, the SEC will tighten its small securities regulations (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennyweight">
<B>pennyweight, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> 24 grains or 1/20 of an ounce in troy weight. (Abbr:) dwt. </DL>
<A NAME="pennywheep">
<B>penny wheep,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) small beer (formerly sold at a penny a bottle). </DL>
<A NAME="pennywhistle">
<B>pennywhistle, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a toy whistle such as children use. <BR> <I>Ex. The noise that emerges from some organs of British publicity abroad is more like the peep of a pennywhistle than a fanfare (Manchester Guardian).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of poor quality; inferior. <BR> <I>Ex. Since 1949, a million ex-Nazis have been re-enfranchised. A dozen pennywhistle Fuhrers are after their votes (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennywise">
<B>penny-wise, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> saving in regard to small sums. <BR> <I>Ex. Franklin was far from being a foxy grandpa benignly counseling homely virtues over the rims of his bifocals or a penny-wise mouther of platitudes (Wall Street Journal).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>penny-wise and pound-foolish,</B> </I>saving in small expenses and wasteful in big ones. <BR> <I>Ex. He asserted that dribbling out funds as we are presently doing is penny-wise and pound-foolish (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pennywort">
<B>pennywort, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various plants having roundish leaves, such as the wall pennywort or navelwort. </DL>
<A NAME="pennyworth">
<B>pennyworth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>as much as can be bought for a penny. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a small amount. <BR> <I>Ex. Give me a pennyworth of advice.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a bargain (good, bad, fair, cheap, or otherwise). <BR> <I>Ex. Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths (Benjamin Franklin).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) a good bargain. </DL>
<A NAME="penobscot">
<B>Penobscot, </B>noun, pl. <B>-scots</B> or <B>-scot.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of an American Indian tribe of Algonkian stock formerly living near the Penobscot River, Maine. <DD><B> 2. </B>their language. </DL>
<A NAME="penological">
<B>penological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with penology. <BR> <I>Ex. For eight years I did time in just such a penitentiary, under administrations representing opposite extremes of penological thought (Atlantic).</I> adv. <B>penologically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="penologist">
<B>penologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an expert in penology. <BR> <I>Ex. The Senate committee was listening to doctors, penologists, and policemen disagree on how to control drug distribution and handle addicts (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="penology">
<B>penology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the science of the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals and the management of prisons. </DL>
<A NAME="penoncel">
<B>penoncel, </B>noun. =pencel.</DL>
<A NAME="penpal">
<B>pen pal,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person with whom one corresponds regularly, often in another country and without ever having met. <BR> <I>Ex. Ellen Roberts, a California teenager, was snowed under by an avalanche of Italian pen pals last fall (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="penpicture">
<B>pen picture</B> or <B>portrait,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a picture drawn with a pen. <DD><B> 2. </B>a brief written description, such as of a person or event. <BR> <I>Ex. Time [magazine] writers were as flattering with their pen pictures ... as Australia's Dobell was awry with his brushwork (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="penpoint">
<B>penpoint, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small metal instrument with a split point, used with a holder for writing in ink; nib. <DD><B> 2. </B>a point used for writing on any pen, such as the ball at the end of a ballpoint pen. </DL>
<A NAME="penpusher">
<B>pen-pusher, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) an office worker; person who works at a desk. <BR> <I>Ex. "I take on the paperwork," he said, ... "I'm a pen-pusher" (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pensee">
<B>pensee, </B>noun, pl. <B>pensees.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a thought or reflection put in literary form. <BR> <I>Ex. He expressed this knowledge in a typical Churchillian pensee, under date of April 8, 1945 (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pensile">
<B>pensile</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>hanging down; pendent. <DD><B> 2. </B>building a hanging nest. <BR> <I>Ex. a pensile bird.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pensile">
<B>pensile</B> (2) or <B>pensil, </B>noun. =pencel.</DL>
<A NAME="pension">
<B>pension</B> (1), noun, verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a regular payment to a person of a specified sum of money which is not wages. Pensions are often paid because of long service, special merit, or injuries received. <BR> <I>Ex. A man or woman who makes the armed forces a career may retire with a pension after serving the required time (Robert J. Myers).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a regular payment made to a person not an employee to retain his good will, assistance when needed, or other service; subsidy; fixed allowance. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=pension</B> (2). <DD><I>v.t. </I> to give a pension to. <BR> <I>Ex. The Army pensioned the soldier for his years of loyal service.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with a pension. <BR> <I>Ex. a pension plan, pension rolls.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>pension off,</B> </I>to retire from service with a pension. <BR> <I>Ex. You have taken it into your head that I mean to pension you off (Dickens).</I> </DL>
