pent

plural pents

1. Confinement; concealment.

   There was a catch in my voice, thick as it was with the pent of unshed tears; had I let them flow they would have come out forty per cent proof.

   1993, John Banville, Ghosts

1. Confined in, or as if in, a pen; imprisoned.

   My object all sublime I shall achieve in time — To let the punishment fit the crime — The punishment fit the crime; And make each prisoner pent Unwillingly represent A source of innocent merriment! Of innocent merriment!

   1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC

   3 more examples

   As the old woman, with a gigantic and distorted image of herself thrown half upon the wall behind her, half upon the roof above, sat bending over the few loose bricks within which it was pent, on the damp hearth of the chimney—for there was no stove—she looked as if she were watching at some witch’s altar for a favourable token; […]

   1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC

   Wherever Miss Clavering went, this infatuated young fellow continued to follow her; and being aware that his engagement to his cousin was known in the world, he was forced to make a mystery of his passion, and confine it to his own breast, so that it was so pent in there and pressed down, that it is a wonder he did not explode some day with the stormy secret, and perish collapsed after the outburst.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 46, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   Numa, ravenous with hunger, had long since learned the futility of roaring and moaning as he searched for prey, but now that it was as surely his as though already he had felt the soft flesh beneath his still mighty paw, he opened his huge jaws, and gave vent to his long-pent rage in a series of deafening roars that made the air tremble.

   1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 181

1. archaicparticiplepastsimple past and past participle of pen; alternative form of penned.

plural pents

1. informalentertainmentA pentatonic scale.

   1 more example

   The major pent is the same minor pent pattern only shifted down 3 frets toward the nut. Like John B told me for Sunshine of your love. Play Bm and then Dm pent and it will sound good. He also pointed out that Bm pent includes the same exact notes as DM pent. So the idea is if the song is in D, try both minor and major pents and see how it works.

   2006 March 28, Greg Cisko, “Re: Any good solos?”, in alt.guitar.beginner (Usenet)

plural pents

1. informallifestyleA pentacle or pentagram.

   [> What symbols mean the most to you? For instance, what do you wear around your neck and why?] Usually, a triquetra, although I have ankhs, pents and a spell-bottle on amber beads which I wear if I find it necessary to be *really* annoying :)

   2002 August 27, Jani, “Re: Pagan Symbols.....and any others that spring to mind”, in uk.religion.pagan (Usenet)

plural Pents

1. computingA Pentium microprocessor or computer.

   I have encountered this problem on several computers from 486's to Pents. The only thing I have found to fix it is make sure the CD-Rom cache is set fairly high in the cdrom setup of win 95, and make sure to eliminate ALL unnecessary 16-bit drivers in your autoexec.bat and config.sys.

   1996 February 19, Jeremy Kott, “Re: strange pauses....”, in alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000 (Usenet)