pen up

verb

To enclose (animals) in a pen.

Similar
fold
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Meanings

verbpen up (third-person singular simple present pens up, present participle penning up, simple past and past participle penned up or (archaic) pent up)

present singular third person pens up · participle present penning up · participle past penned up · past penned up · archaic participle past pent up · archaic past pent up

  1. transitiveTo enclose (animals) in a pen.
  2. transitiveTo enclose as if in a pen.

    Pent up in Utica he vainly forms / A poor Epitome of Roman Greatneſs, / And, cover’d with Numidian Guards, directs / A feeble Army, and an empty Senate, / Remnants of mighty Battels fought in vain.

    1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2

Synonyms & antonyms

verbconfine in a fold, like sheep

Similar
fold
Broader
restrainconfinehold
Also see
fold

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

pen up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pen%20up

MLA

“pen up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pen%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pen up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pen%20up.

Source: pen up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.