pencilwork

P3E1N1C3I1L1W4O1R1K5

noun

A task involving lots of writing.

Scrabble 21
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Meanings

nounpencilwork (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA task involving lots of writing.

    Engineers rely mostly on computer simulations and pencilwork for such forecasts.

    2007 December 3, Colin Nickerson, “The science of how buildings fall down”, in The Boston Globe, archived from the original on 11 Apr 2010
    2 more examples

    Amateur astronomers needn't do a lot of mathematical pencilwork with this clear, all-plastic celestial globe.

    1948 November, “Globe Aids Star Study”, in Popular Science, page 243

    To assess only one-third of the cost of a new administrative headquarters against a fund designed for administration and operations, while assessing two-thirds against another fund designed to buy and open new parks, takes some fancy pencilwork.

    1975 November, Griffin Smith, jr., “The Strange Case of the Missing Parks”, in Texas Monthly, page 136
  2. uncountableDrawings done with a pencil.

    Mr. Prideaux Selby delights and excels in the glowing and splendid pencilwork of nature.

    1839 August/November, “Essays on Natural History, chiefly Ornithology [book review]”, in The Dublin Review, vol VII, page 184
    2 more examples

    Chief Windigo's map of Lake Nipigon, Ontario. […] ca. 1869, probably original Indian pencilwork on paper, enhanced in ink and blue wash, and with the addition of many names.

    1998, G. Malcolm Lewis, Maps, Mapmaking, and Map Use by Native North Americans [in:] The History of Cartography, Volume 2, Book 3: Cartography in the Traditional African, American, Arctic, Australian, and Pacific Societies, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 154

    […] contemporary artist Peggy Preheim, whose pencilwork, sculpture and photography reflect each other in engaging ways.

    2009 November 3, Laura Miller, “Glimpsing a Life Through a Few Objects”, in The Cornell Daily Sun, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2010

Origin

From pencil + work.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pencilwork. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencilwork

MLA

“pencilwork.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencilwork. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pencilwork,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencilwork.

Source: pencilwork on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.