pen in
Verb
Meaning
To enclose (animals) in a pen.
(figuratively, by extension) To cause to be stuck in a situation; to be forced into a situation by circumstances.
To schedule; fix a date for.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgSynonyms
Examples
With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.
She had an unequalled gift, especially pen in hand, of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities.
If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.
As will so often be the case when a men has a pen in his hand. It is like a club or sledge-hammer, - in using which, either for defence or attack, a man can hardly measure the strength of the blows he gives.
No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.