fountain pen

noun

: a pen containing an ink reservoir that automatically feeds a metal writing point

The fountain pen—which hasn't been a necessary tool of daily life since the ballpoint pen was invented in 1938—has become not only a prestige possession but also a defiant symbol of antitechnology sentiments.

—Heidi Ellison

Examples of fountain pen in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Officials received spa treatments, top-shelf alcohol, designer handbags, leather goods, designer furniture, watches, fountain pens, ornamental swords and handmade ship models, according to court documents. —Elias Lopez, CBS News, 5 Nov. 2024

Quentin Tarantino writes the first drafts of his screenplays longhand; Neal Stephenson wrote The Baroque Cycle, a series of eight books set in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with a fountain pen. —Cal Newport, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024

If using a fountain pen or retreating to a mountain house can make the cognitive load of producing text even somewhat more bearable, writers will consider it. —Cal Newport, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024

Photograph: Peter Fisher At one point in one of our talks, Rohrer lifted a fountain pen from his desk. —Joseph Bien-Kahn, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1710, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

fountain pen

noun

: a pen with ink inside that is fed to the writing point as needed