▪ I. pein, n. dial., techn., and U.S.
(piːn, peɪn)
Also 7 pen, 9 pean, pene, 9– peen.
[Of uncertain origin: app. a northern and Sc. form of pane n.3, perh. influenced in form by peen v. But cf. Norw. pen, pænn ‘the hinder sharpened part of a hammer’ (Aasen), referred by some to Sw. dial. pen, pän (Reitz), Da. peen fine, neat (? orig. ‘thin’).]
a. The sharp or thin end of a hammer-head, opposite to the face; = pane n.3 Hence, the other end of a hammer-head from the face, whether sharp-edged or rounded.
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ¶20 The Hammer..hath no Claws but a Pen. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 321/2 Smiths..Hammers have no claw or slit in the Pen, as those that are for drawing out of Nails. Ibid., The Pen is the small end of [a hammer]. 1825 Jamieson, Peen, the sharp point of a mason's hammer. 1881 [see pane n.3]. 1885 Spons' Mechanics' Own Bk. 84 This process is termed ‘paning’ or ‘pening’, from the pane or pene of the hammer being generally used to perform it. 1890 Cent. Dict. s.v. Peen vb., Striking regularly all over with the peen of a hammer. 1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. from Sc. and north. Counties. 1904 W. H. Van Dervoort Mod. Machine Shop Tools (ed. 4) i. 17 The machinist hammer..is made of high-grade steel, carefully tempered on head and pene. 1939 Specification for Hand Hammers (B.S.I.) 7 On completion, the forgings shall be hardened on the striking faces and peins only. Ibid. 12 (caption) Engineer's ball pein hammer. 1943 D. J. Swartz et al. Fund. Shopwork (1945) i. 27 The peen hammer is widely used. The head is so shaped that one end, called the peen, can be used to produce dents or depressions or to set up tension in metal. 1947 J. C. Rich Materials & Methods Sculpture vi. 182 In working the heavier thicknesses of 5/16 inch and the 3/8 inch, larger ball pein hammers are required. 1961 B.S.I. News Oct. 24/1 Most of the trouble was due to..heads too hard on either the striking face of the pein. 1964 S. Crawford Basic Engin. Processes i. 16 The three types of hammer most generally used by the fitter are (a) Ball Pein, (b) Cross Pein, and (c) Straight Pein... All three are of a standard shape at the striking face end but can be readily identified by the shape of the opposite end known as the pein. 1971 B. Scharf Engin. & its Lang. ix. 63 Ball-pein hammers have one ball-shaped end (pein, peen) for hand-riveting or burring over. |
b. Comb., as pein-end (of a hammer); pein-ended adj. (hammer); pein-hammer, a hammer having a peen or sharpened end; a shoemaker's hammer.
| 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 558/1 The differences between peen-hammers and bush-hammers. 1939 etc. [see sense a above]. |
▪ II. pein, peine
obs. forms of pane, pain.