penned

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of pen.

   He penned the opening chapter during a single sleepless night.

   The treaty was penned by diplomats from both nations.

   Note

   One spelling serves two different verbs: the farmer's pen and the writer's. Sheep or cattle are penned when they are shut in an enclosure, and an article or a novel is penned when it is written. Both verbs are regular, so the same form does duty as past tense and participle (she penned the flock; the novel was penned in exile). Only context tells enclosing from writing.

2. 2
   adjectiveobsolete

   Furnished with wings or feathers; bearing plumes.

   Note

   A dead adjective that once meant feathered or winged, describing a bird or any plumed creature. It cannot be compared: nothing is more penned than another. A modern reader will take it as the past tense of pen, so use it only when quoting or deliberately imitating old style. Winged or plumed says the same thing clearly today.

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