Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A portable enclosure in which a baby or young child can be safely left to play.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
enclosed space forchildren to play in.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a portable enclosure in which babies may be left to play
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Someone suggested that we put the tree in the playpen, but our playpen is on loan.
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Including the playard, otherwise known as a playpen, or baby jail.
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Including the playard, otherwise known as a playpen, or baby jail.
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OF THE THREE PRESENTS WHICH PETER Holmes took back to his wife that night, the playpen was the most appreciated.
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OF THE THREE PRESENTS WHICH PETER Holmes took back to his wife that night, the playpen was the most appreciated.
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Aspen Mountain has long been known as the playpen of the rich and famous - and it is.
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Aspen Mountain has long been known as the playpen of the rich and famous - and it is.
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Actually, the couch facing the wall was an effective 'playpen' for another couple weeks.
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My kitchen sink view is to the north, up the hill that crests our property, to a small apple orchard and the run my husband put up for our dogs (we call it their "playpen" and whenever they hear that word, they go crazy!)
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Our 'playpen' consisted of the odd comic strip, the novelisations, some vaguely surreal annuals, those Viewmaster slides, a Gareth Hunt doll and some stories that literally unfolded on chocolate wrappers.
chained_bear commented on the word playpen
Hilarious (to me, anyway) article about the demise of the playpen (or at least the WORD playpen) can be read here, at Slate.com.
My favorite part:
"Whatever its name, the concept of the playpen reveals yet another fault line in the politics of anxious parenting, as I found via a simple inquiry—whether the playpen was in or out of vogue—at Urbanbaby.com, a site that combines the neurotic firepower of Woody Allen's 1970s oeuvre with the conviviality-tinged-with-hostility of the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars."
Also, given Treeseed's list title at right, I'm reminded of the story my much-older brother tells of me blathering at him when confined in a playpen and not able to speak proper English yet: He wasn't listening, so I dropped a toy truck on his head.
I don't remember this event, but it sure explains a lot.
August 7, 2009