| 释义 |
▪ I. point, n.1|pɔɪnt|
Forms: 3– point; also 3–6 pointe, poynte, 4–8 poynt, (4 pl. poyns), 5 pointt(e, puynt, pynt, pyntte, 6 poinct, -e, poynct, -e, Sc. pwint. β. 4–5 pont, -e, 5–6 pounte, 6 pownt, 6–9 Sc. pount. Also punt: see punct.
[In origin, two, or perh. three, words. In A., a. F. point = Pr. punt, Sp., It. punto, Pg. ponto:—L. punct-um that which is pricked, a prick, a minute mark like a prick, a dot, a point in writing, a point in space, a point of time, a small measure, a particular of a discourse, etc.; subst. use of pa. pple. neuter of L. pungĕre, punct-, F. poindre, point to prick, pierce. In B., a. F. pointe = Pr., Sp., It. punta, Pg. ponta:—Com. Romanic (and med.L.) puncta the action of piercing, the piercing part of anything, a sharp or pointed extremity (in med.L. the point of a knife, shoe, foot, promontory, etc.); ppl. n. fem. from pungĕre (parallel to those in -āta, -ada, -ée). In C., in some senses, app. an independent derivative, as a noun of action, from F. poindre, or pointer, or from Eng. point v.1 In ME., through the loss or non significance of final -e, point and pointe ran together, combining under the same form two senses which in all other langs. are kept apart (e.g. Ger. punkt, spitze). Transferred and fig. senses subsequently arose related to both primary notions, so that in senses where there is no corresponding F. point or pointe, the development is often very difficult to determine. The occasional spellings pynt, pyntte prob. indicate a pronunciation formerly prevalent and still dialectal of oi as (iː), point being pronounced like pint. The β-forms in pont, pount, pownt, are difficult to place; perh. they ought to be equated with punt, and so rather to be included under the by-form punct.]
A. = F. point.
I. A prick, a dot.
†1. A minute hole or impression made by pricking; a prick, a puncture. Obs. rare.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 142 Make a poynt bi þe space of a litil fyngre from þe oon eende of þe wounde, & anoþer poynt at þe oþere eende of þe wounde. c1440Promp. Parv. 406/2 Poynte, punctus vel punctum. [1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. 270 A Point (Punctum), a minute impression upon the surface, but not perforating it.]
2. A minute mark on a surface, of the size or appearance of a fine puncture; a dot, a minute spot or speck; also, anything excessively small or appearing like a speck.
1390Gower Conf. III. 65 Which [Astrolabe] was of fin gold precious With pointz and cercles merveilous. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 202 Now he only subscribed Rey ::· pointed with fiue points, called by the Portugals the fiue wounds. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §4 This invention..so abbreviated that a point onely sheweth distinctly and significantly any of the 24. Letters. 1732Law Serious C. xiii. (ed. 2) 228 As the fix'd Stars..appear but as so many points. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 468 The pupil, instead of being dilated, is contracted to a point. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 468 Body dotted with numerous red points. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 550 The lesions begin as minute scaly points in the epidermis.
3. A dot or other small mark used in writing or printing.
a. A punctuation-mark; esp. the full point or full stop; also extended to the marks of exclamation (!) and interrogation (?); and sometimes to reference-marks, as the asterisk, obelisk, etc.
c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 927 And þer a poynt, for ended is my tale; God send euery trewe man boote of his bale. 1530Palsgr. 15 b, A poynt, whether it be suche as the Latins call punctum planum thus made . ,..or with suche as the Latins cal comma thus made : , or uirgula thus made /. 1587F. Clement Petie Schole 25 The perfect pause, or full point is set down in the line immediatly after the last word. 1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. 40 In y⊇ pause of a ful point. 1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. ad init., The Saxon vseth our note of Full-point commonly for all other distinctions. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 161 Commas and points they set exactly right. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 258, ⁋ The Paragraph. † The Obelisk. {ddag} The Double Dagger. ‖ The Parallel. § The Section. * The Asterism. These are the Names and Figures of what Founders reckon among Points, and Printers call References. Ibid. 262 He assigned the former Points their proper places..and added the Semicolon..to come in between the Comma and the Colon. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 406 The point of Interrogation, ? The point of Exclamation, !. 1891N. & Q. 7th Ser. XII. 99/2 All abbreviations being uniformly denoted by the full-point.
b. In Semitic alphabets, Any one of the dots, minute strokes, or groups of these, which are placed over, under, or within the letters or consonants, in order to indicate the vowels; in Hebrew also to indicate variation or doubling of the consonant, stress accent, punctuation, etc.; in Arabic and Persian to distinguish consonants otherwise identical in form, as {arnun} n, {arta} t, {artha} þ, {arba} b, {aryafull} i, {arpa} p, etc., called diacritical points.
1614Selden Titles Hon. 102 The three words haue ouer the Aliphs their point Vashlu. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 167 They added the points (which wee call vowels). 1668Wilkins Real Char. 365 That Argument..against the Antiquity of the Hebrew Points, or Vowels. 1748Hartley Observ. on Man i. iii. 312 The Manner of writing Hebrew without Points. 1776J. Richardson Arab. Gram. iii. 11 When final..it [{arha}] has often two points above. Ibid., Like {aralif} and {arwaw}..it [{arya}] is considerably influenced by the vowel points. 1834Penny Cycl. II. 219/1 In it [the Cufic character] the Koran was written, originally without diacritical points and vowels. 1837G. Phillips Syriac Gram. 3 The points of the vowel Zekofo may coalesce with the point of the letter. 1891A. F. Kirkpatrick Bk. Psalms i. Introd. vii. 51 The present elaborate system of vowel marks or ‘points’, commonly called the ‘Massoretic punctuation’ or ‘vocalisation’.
c. A dot used in writing numbers. (a) In decimals, separating the integral from the fractional part; also, placed over a repeating decimal, or over the first and last figures of the period in a circulating decimal. (b) A dot or stroke used to separate a line of figures into groups.
1704[see decimal a. 1 b]. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 312/2 Decimals are distinguished by a point, which separates them from integers, if any be prefixed. 1900Daily News 9 June 5/3 Two ‘four-point-sevens’,..two naval twelve-pounders.., and two five-inch guns. Mod. We read 4·6. as ‘four point repeating six’.
4. A dot or mark used in mediæval musical notation (med.L. punctus or punctum).
a. A mark indicating a tone or sound; corresponding to the modern ‘notes’. (Cf. counterpoint n.1)
1674Playford Skill Mus. iii. 1 Counterpoint..was the old manner of Composing Parts together, by setting Points or Pricks one against another. 1782Burney Hist. Mus. II. i. 39 Points were first used simple, afterwards with tails.
b. = dot n.1 5 d.
point of alteration or duplication, a dot placed before two short notes in ‘perfect’ or triple rhythm, to indicate that the second of them is to be reckoned as of twice its ordinary length. point of augmentation, a dot placed after a note in ‘imperfect’ or duple rhythm, to lengthen it by one half (as in modern music). point of division or imperfection, a dot placed between two short notes in ‘perfect’ rhythm, of which the first is preceded and the second followed by a long note; indicating a division of the rhythm (like the bar in modern music), and rendering the two long notes ‘imperfect’. point of perfection, a dot placed in ‘perfect’ rhythm after a long note which would otherwise be ‘imperfect’ by position, to indicate that it is to be ‘perfect’.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 12, I pray you say what Prickes or poynts..signifie in singing.
II.
5. a. A separate or single article, item, or clause in an extended whole (usually an abstract whole, as a course of action, a subject of thought, a discourse, etc.); an individual part, element, or matter, a detail, a particular; sometimes, a detail of nature or character, a particular quality or respect; † an instance (of some quality, etc.). Also used with preceding numeral to form an attrib. phr. designating a statement or document that has the number of items specified by the numeral.
a1225Ancr. R. 178 Ᵹif eni ancre is þet ne veleð none uondunges, swuð drede hire iðet point. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 27/30 Fondede in eche pointe to answerien heom wel quoynteliche. a1300Cursor M. 23261 (Cott.) Bot a point es þar þam pines mare, Þan elles al þair oþer fare. Ibid. 26092 Þe toþer pont es scrift o muth. 1340Ayenb. 33 And yet eft þer byeþ zix poyns kueade, huerby sleuþe brengeþ man to his ende. 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 6 These ben þe poyntz & þe articles ordeyned of the bretheren of seint Katerine. c1394P. Pl. Crede 6 In my pater⁓noster iche poynt after oþer. c1400Rule St. Benet 657 Ther er the pontes of perfite lifyng That nedful er to old and ȝing. c1400Brut (E.E.T.S.) 157 He sent worde..þat þai shulde done out and put awey þat o pynt of restitucion. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xlv. 17 It is ane pount of ignorance To lufe in sic distemperance. 1526Tindale Jas. ii. 10 Whosoeuer shall kepe the whole lawe, and yet fayle in one poynt, he is gyltie in all. 1533Gau Richt Vay 55 The ix artikil. I trou that thair is ane halie chrissine kirk and ane communione of sanctis. Thir ii pwintis ar baith bot ane thing. 1541Test. Ebor. VI. 135 That..this my last will and testament be fulfillid in every poynte. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 7, I have prefaced and scholied sufficiently unto the Text, I come now to seek out first the parts, and then the points of it. 1663Gerbier Counsel 49 The censure of the Surveyor, on the point of all the materialls which are brought in. 1701Norris Ideal World i. ii. 74 This is the point upon which the whole reasoning turns. 1784J. Potter Virtuous Villagers II. 23 We shall never agree on these points, so we'll drop them. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike v. 55 If they had known what point was in dispute. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. v, Is it a point of conscience with you? 1897J. T. Tomlinson Prayer Bk., Articles & Hom. vii. 211 We shall find..that..he [Cosin] never adopted any one of the ‘six points’ of modern Ritualism. 1945Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 26 Oct. 5/1 He proposed, in its stead, a six-point program as a foundation for world peace. 1961Chicago Daily Tribune 25 Oct. i. 16/3 If the parties failed to sign an eight point protocol agreeing on Gen. Gursel as president. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 134/2 The basic policy of the Communists, set forth in a ten-point statement.., is constantly rebroadcast. 1977Time 10 Jan. 20/2 The CPI supported Mrs. Gandhi's 20-point program for social reform, but pointedly witheld support from Sanjay's five-point youth program.
†b. to stand (up)on (one's) points, to insist upon details of conduct or manners which one has espoused; to be punctilious or scrupulous. Obs.
c1590Greene Fr. Bacon i. 122 Our country Margret is so coy, And stands so much vpon her honest points, That marriage or no market with the mayd. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 118. 1601 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. (Qo.) i. ii. 32 He stood vpon poynts with me too. 1685Bunyan Pharisee & Publican Wks. 1861 II. 237 For a man here to stand thus upon his points, it is death.
c. to strain or stretch a point: see the verbs.
III. A minute part or particle of anything; the smallest unit of measurement.
†6.
a. The very least or a very small part of something; a jot, whit, particle. Obs.
a1300Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 338 O poynt of ore pine to bate in the world ne is no leche. c1450Lovelich Grail lv. 182 Neuere Man On hym Cowde Aspye that Evere he hadde poynt of Meselrye. c1450Mirour Saluacioun 368 Nor neuer hafe felt a poynt of vnhelth, nor sekenesse. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. vii. in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 104 By one point of excesse all your Warke is shent.
†b. no point (cf. F. ne point): not a bit, not at all, not in the least. Obs.
1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 137 Diogenes esteemed the fruite to bee no poyncte the more polluted. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 190 Boy. Will you prick't with your eye? La. Ro. No poynt, with my knife. 1610Histrio-m. iii. 266 The Players now are growne so proud, Ten pound a play, or no point Comedy.
†7. The smallest or a very small portion of time; a moment, instant. Obs.
1382Wyclif Isa. liv. 7 At a poynt in a litil I forsoc thee. 1434Misyn Mending Life 106 In a poynt we lyfe, ȝa les þen a poynt, for [if] all our lyfe to lyfe euerlastynge we wald likkyn, noȝt it is. a1533Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Kkj b, Theyr felicitie hath been but a shorte poynt.
†8. sensible point: the least discernible portion of matter or space. Obs. rare.
1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. xv. §9 A sensible Point, meaning thereby the least Particle of Matter or Space we can discern, which is ordinarily about a Minute, and to the sharpest Eyes seldom less than thirty Seconds of a Circle, where the Eye is the Center. 1704in J. Harris Lex. Techn. I.
9. Mus.
a. A short strain or snatch of melody; esp. in phr. point of war, etc., a short phrase sounded on an instrument as a signal. arch.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 890 Of þat songe myȝt synge a poynt. 1578Gosson in T. N. tr. Conq. W. India ad fin., When..threatnying trumpet sounde the poyntes of warre. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. i. 52. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 48 Make me a straine;..Breath me a point that may inforce me weepe. 1814Scott Wav. xlvi, To perform the beautiful and wild point of war. 1867Morris Jason i. 127 His guardian drew The horn from off his neck, and thereon blew A point of hunting known to two or three. 1871Ruskin Fors Clav. viii. (1896) I. 152 Bid him put ghostly trump to lip and breathe a point of war.
b. An important phrase or subject, usually in a contrapuntal composition, esp. in relation to its entry in a particular part; the entry of such a phrase or subject.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 76 There can bee no point or Fuge taken without a rest. a1646J. Gregory Posthuma (1649) 48 The Contrapunctum figuratum, consisting of Feuges, or maintaining of Points. 1881in Grove Dict. Mus. III. 7 Points, a term applied..to the opening notes of the Subject of a Fugue, or other important Motivo, to which it is necessary that the attention of the Performer should be particularly directed.
†10. In mediæval measurement of time: The fourth (or according to some, the fifth) part of an hour. (See atom n. 7.) Obs.
1495Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. ix. ix. (W. de W.) 354 An houre conteynyth foure poyntes [Bodl. MS. punctes] and a poynt ten momentes. [Ibid. xxi. 359 A puncte is the fourth partye of an houre.] 1844Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. xi. 158 Twenty-four hours, each of which admits of four different subdivisions, into four points [etc.].
†11. The twelfth part of the side or radius of a quadrant, etc.: spec. in Astron. One of the 24 (or, according to some, 12) equal divisions of the diameter of the sun or moon, by which the degree of obscuration in an eclipse was measured.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §12 The skale..that seruith by hise 12 poyntes..of ful many a subtil conclusioun. c1400in Halliwell Rara Mathem. (1841) 59 Þe 12 departynges of aiþer of þo sides are called poyntes, þan es a poynte þe twelft parte of any thyng, namely of ouþer side of þe quadrat in þe quadrant. 1550W. Lynne Carion's Cron. 252 b, The third Eclipse was of the Moone..the Moone was darkened .xvii. pointes and .xxv. minutes. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xv. (1636) 309 The Astronomers do divide the Diameter as well of the Sunne, as of the Moone into 12, and some into 24 parts, which they call points.
12. nine points or eleven points, usually in the saying ‘Possession is nine (formerly eleven) points of the law’, i.e. is = nine or eleven out of a supposed ten or twelve points (= a vast majority of the points) that may be raised in a legal action. So by hyperbole, ninety-nine points (out of a hundred).
1697–8Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 149 Prejudice and education had eleven points of the law, and it was impossible for arguments to dispossess them. 1809Malkin Gil Blas x. x. ⁋20 She had possession, and that is nine points of the law. 1863Reade Very Hard Cash xliii, Possession is ninety-nine points of Lunacy law.
13. a. A unit of count in the score of a game.
1746Hoyle Whist (ed. 6) 69 Points. Ten of them make a Game. 1816Singer Hist. Cards 261 note, The five is called Towser. The six, Tumbler, which reckon in hand for their respective number of points. 1856Lt. Col. B. Whist-player (1858) 21 The party revoking forfeit three points. 1873Bennett & ‘Cavendish’ Billiards 14 The game (1200 up) was won by Cook by 117 points. 1895Westm. Gaz. 3 Dec. 7/1 Cumberland scored 14 points [at Football].
b. Hence, to give points to [F. donner, rendre des points], to allow (a rival) to count so many points at starting, to give odds to; colloq. to have the advantage of; so to gain a point, to get points, to gain an advantage.
1871Freeman Hist. Ess. Ser. i. xii. 400 The English Minister can often gain a point by dexterous dealing in Parliament. 1881Confess. Frivolous Girl 106, I got more [bouquets] than she did; thereby (to use a bit of slang) getting points on her for the time being. 1883American VI. 333 Any average Eton boy could give points to His Holiness in the matter of Latin verses. 1895F. E. Trollope F. Trollope II. i. 16 She could give points to many younger women and beat them.
c. spec. in Piquet: The number of cards of the most numerous suit in one's hand after discarding; the number scored by the player who holds the highest number of one suit. See piquet1.
1719R. Seymour Court Gamester 75 He who reckons most in this Manner [either by greater number of cards, or, in case of equality, of Pips, Ace = 11, Court cards 10 each] is said to win the Point. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Piquet, The carte blance [sic] is the first thing that reckons; then the point. 1809Malkin Gil Blas i. xvii. ⁋3 Point, quint, and quatorze. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xviii, By an infraction of the laws of the game [piquet],..Lord Etherington called a point without showing it.
d. pl. Name of a particular game at bowls.
1902J. A. Manson in Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 329/1 (Bowls) On Scottish greens the game of Points is occasionally played... Three points are scored if the bowl come to rest within one foot of the jack... It is obvious that the Points game demands an ideally perfect green.
e. on points (Boxing): according to or as a result of the points scored in a number of rounds, esp. in phr. to beat (or defeat) on points: to beat (an opponent) in a contest by winning more points and not by achieving a knockout. Also to lose (or win) on points, etc. Also fig.
1904C. B. Fry's Mag. June 301/1 Aeneas called ‘time’, and gave a decision..‘on points’. 1929Daily Express 7 Nov. 13/5 Young Stribling, the American boxer, defeated Maurice Griselle, France, on points in a ten-round..contest. 1929Evening News 18 Nov. 16/4 Rolland..beat Wilhelm Bech on points. 1930Cambridge Daily News 25 Sept. 7/4 Campolo..will probably retire for good..if Sharkey gives him the full count, or if he loses on points. 1948J. B. Priestley Linden Tree i. 38 ‘Daddy had a blazing row with the man at the bookshop. Didn't you, Daddy?’.. ‘Yes, but I thought he won on points.’ 1955Times 12 May 4/3 He landed a fair number of swings and a few straight lefts... It was not enough and Eddington won on points. 1957E. Gowers H. W. Fowler 11 The draftsman was attacked for using this construction... If I had been the referee in that contest I should have awarded Jespersen a win on points. 1968Listener 18 July 90/3 Mrs Vlachou was as icily contemptuous of the colonels' intentions as she used once to be of British intentions at the time of the Cyprus troubles; Mr Sparrow was eloquent in their defence. On points I should give the victory to Mrs Vlachou. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 116/1 This championship, for which Clay and Frazier, the winner on points over 15 rounds, each received $2,500,000, must have grossed more than $20 million.
14. a. A unit in appraising the qualities of a competitor, or of an exhibit in a competitive show. Also fig.
1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. iii, Charles's imprudence and bad character are great points in my favour. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxi. 179, I cannot accept it as a point in a clergyman's favour, that he should be opposed to his bishop. 1886Stevenson Dr. Jekyll ii, All these were points against him.
b. A unit of credit towards an award or benefit, spec. (a) an academic qualification (U.S.); (b) allocation of local authority housing; (c) discharge from the armed forces or return from overseas service.
1903N.Y. Times 29 Aug. 3/4 For university credit, each 30 hours' course counts one point, and laboratory work, at the rate of 60 hours, to one point. 1950B. Wootton Testament for Social Science ii. 41 The local authority's decision to give x points for size of family, y points for service in the armed forces, plus z points for being bombed out may be regarded as entirely subjective value-judgments. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 5 Feb. 7 Into San Francisco come the wounded, come the soldiers who have accumulated enough rotation ‘points’ to be sent home. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 120 The regiment was disbanded, and those men who did not have enough points to go home were sent to other outfits. 1963[see credit n. 13 b]. 1974M. Birmingham You can help Me i. 10 The Bengalis..have not enough points yet to live in tower blocks so they pay exorbitant rents to private landlords. 1974Times 14 Nov. 17/7 Housing lists are so long..I think..they [sc. agricultural workers] should be given points for the number of years they have lived in a tied house. 1977E. Ambler Send no more Roses v. 89 It's to be first in, first out, with a points bonus for every month of overseas service. 1977Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXV. 550/2 Usually points were allocated according to the inadequacy of the existing accommodation, the degree of overcrowding, the health of the occupier, the length of time that these conditions had prevailed, and the extent to which the dwelling was unsuited to the needs of the occupier. When a household had acquired enough points to reach the top of the housing list, then their own preference as to location and dwelling type would be taken into account.
c. Bridge. A unit by which a hand is evaluated.
1959Listener 5 Mar. 434/2 A balanced hand with less than 25 points is considered insufficient to make a mandatory force to game. Ibid. 434/3 A ten-point hand. 1964Official Encycl. Bridge 431/1 This [sc. the high-card valuation] gives a total of 40 points in the pack, and makes an average hand worth ten points. 1977Times 10 Dec. 13/4 The text-books advise you to pass, because you have four points only and six points are needed for a positive response.
15. a. A recognized unit in quoting variations in price of stocks, shares, and various commodities, differing in value according to the commodity in question; also used in quoting variations in interest rates (one point representing one per cent) and exchange rates (one point being one-hundredth of the smallest monetary unit). In Betting, a unit in stating fluctuations of the odds.
1814Sporting Mag. XLIII. 54 Betting reduced two points. 1890Daily News 13 Nov. 2/4 Cotton.—Liverpool... ‘Futures’ advanced 2 points, but the improvement has not been maintained, and prices are now one point below yesterday's closing rates. 1901Westm. Gaz. 4 Oct. 9/3 An important advance in American cotton has set in in Liverpool, the rise at noon to-day being nine points, or one-eighth per pound. 1901M. E. Wilkins Portion Labor 159 The mining stock dropped fast—a point or more a day. 1902Westm. Gaz. 20 Jan. 11/1 The Brighton dividend is 3½ per cent. on ordinary, preferred, and A stock alike. The price has fallen 3 points. 1906L. C. Cornford Defenceless Islands 98 Prices have dropped six points. A point is the hundredth part of a penny. 1930M. Clark Home Trade 163 Prices in the case of spot transactions are not stated in terms of pence per lb., but as so many ‘points on’ or ‘points off’ the price of cotton.., a ‘point’ being one hundredth of a penny. 1971Daily Tel. 5 Apr. 7/2 Bank Rate is now 2½ points higher than at the beginning of 1956, and mortgage rates are also 2½ points higher over the same period. Ibid., This would save the building societies about 1/3 of a point of interest. 1974Ibid. 23 Feb. 19/4 Metal Box at 206p managed an 11-point rise while Pilkington jumped 13 to 302p. 1980Times 12 Feb. 19/3 Sterling..continued to maintain a firm position closing 60 points ahead at 2·3045.
b. A unit of value and exchange in rationing; on points, (rationed) on the basis of such units.
1940Economist 31 Aug. 280/2 Textiles are sharply rationed [in Holland]... On August 12th, the German system of a clothing card of 100 points was introduced. 1942Business Week 9 May 15/1 The rationing method—according to current OPA thinking—will be to establish a secondary currency of points alongside the dollar currency. Essential articles..will be listed and given a price in points. Then every person in the country will be given a book of stamps representing a certain number of points. 1944M. Laski Love on Supertax i. 13 You always seem to forget that breakfast cereals cost points. 1944Times 23 Feb. 2/3 From April 2 imported tinned marmalade will be available on points, and will not be, as hitherto, part of the preserve ration. 1947Ann. Reg. 1946 55 Surplus [Bread] Units would be exchangeable for Points entitling to other foodstuffs. 1948J. Bell Wonderful Mrs Marriott ii. 36 Mrs Dale's worries with points and coupons. 1950‘P. Woodruff’ Island of Chamba vii. 109 The Sultana sounds like something you get from the grocer if you have enough points. 1965N. Freeling Criminal Conversation ii. xv. 169 England during the reign of Sir Stafford Cripps..with points and coupons and austerity. 1975S. Briggs Keep Smiling Through (1976) 155 People could distribute their 16 monthly points as they liked, sometimes spending the lot on a delicious tin of salmon, sometimes cautiously stocking up on sensible spam and pilchards.
†16.
a. A measure of length, the twelfth part of a French line: cf. line n.2 16. Obs.
1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 472 The smallest no more than one-half of a Paris point, or the 144th part of an inch in diameter..is said to magnify the diameter of an object 2560 times.
b. Printing. A unit of measurement for type bodies: in the French or Didot system the seventy-second part of a French inch (i.e. twice the amount of prec.); in the U.S. system slightly smaller (in the proportion of about twelve to thirteen), i.e. ·0138 of an inch.
1890Cent. Dict. s.v., The American point was adopted by the United States Type-Founders' Association in 1883. 1900H. Hart Century of Oxford Typog. 154 The typographical unit is the point. Ibid., Oxford Press Type-bodies..Nonpareil, 5·68 Didot Points..Brevier, 7·35 Didot Points. 1901Westm. Gaz. 6 Feb. 4/3 The type..must be at least ‘eight point’, and the lines must be separated by at least two points.
17. In Australian use: A unit in measuring rainfall, the hundredth part (·01) of an inch.
1889Australasian 20 Apr., The following reports have been received:—Brewarrina, 40 points; Bourke, 47 points;..Ivanhoe, 100 points; Mossagiel, 188 points;..Hillston, 288 points. 1893Westm. Gaz. 17 May 2/1 In the district of the Thompson River there had only been nine points of rain in 15 months. 1895Queenslander 7 Dec. 1061 Rain set in early this morning, ninety-eight points having fallen up to 2.30 p.m.
18. A measure of weight used for diamonds and other precious stones, equal to one hundredth of a carat.
1931Kraus & Holden Gems (ed. 2) vii. 99 The weight of a diamond is often expressed in points. Thus, a stone weighing 65 points actually weighs 0·65 carats. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia II. 546/3 The metric carat, equal to 0·200 grams, and the point, equal to 0·01 carat, was adopted by the U.S. in 1913 and, subsequently, by most other countries. 1979Guardian 3 Nov. 17/7 (Advt.), A dazzling 1½ point diamond, handset in a brilliant star⁓burst of gold ‘vermeil’.
IV. Something having definite position, without extension; a position in space, time, succession, degree, order, etc.
19. a. Geom. That which is conceived as having position, but not magnitude (as the extremity of a line, or the intersection of two lines).
c1391Chaucer Astrol. i. §18 This forseide cenyth is ymagened to ben the verrey point ouer the crowne of thyn heued. 1551Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Defin., A Poynt or a Prycke, is named of Geometricians that small and vnsensible shape, whiche hath in it no partes, that is to say: nother length, breadth, nor depth. 1570Dee Math. Pref. *j, A Point is a thing Mathematicall, indiuisible, which may haue a certayne determined situation. 1660Barrow Euclid i. Defin., i. A Point is that which has no part... iii. The ends, or limits, of a line are Points. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., If a Point be supposed to be moved any way, it will by its Motion describe a Line. 1828J. H. Moore Pract. Navig. (ed. 20) 11 To draw a Circle through any Three given Points not situated in a right Line. 1866Brande & Cox Dict. Sc., etc. II. 946/1 It is sometimes convenient to consider a point as an evanescent circle or sphere.
b. In various phrases with of (in Geom., Optics, and Perspective), as point of contrary flexure, p. of convergence, p. of dispersion, p. of distance, p. of divergence, p. of incidence, p. of inflexion, p. of osculation, p. of reflection, p. of refraction, p. of sight, p. of vision, etc.: see these words. See also vanishing point.
c. Astron., etc. Applied with qualifying adjs. to special points of the celestial sphere, etc.: see cardinal, equinoctial, solstitial, vertical.
cardinal points = Fr. points cardinaux; but the 32 points of the compass (sense B. 9) = Fr. pointes de la boussole, ou du compas.
†d. Middle or central point, centre. Obs. rare.
1481Caxton Myrr. i. xx. 59 No more than hath the poynt or pricke in the myddle of the most grete compaas that may be. 1614W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 227 Our Ecclesiasticall writers haue thought Iudea to be the middle of the Earth, and Ierusalem the very poynt.
20. a. A place having definite spatial position but no extent, or of which the position alone is considered; a spot.
13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 68 In þat Cete my saȝes soghe alle aboute, Þat, in þat place at þe poynt, I put in þi hert. c1400Destr. Troy 564 The perlouse pointtes þat passe you behoues. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 698 King Edward..was not a little troubled..and driuen to seeke the furthest poynt of his witte. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. xi. 178 If you keep a true Account of the Ship's way.., you may at any time have the true Point where the Ship is. 1710J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I. 263 All the Rays which come from any Point of the Object, and fall upon the whole Superficies of the Glass do..enter into the Pupil. 1837Lady Willoughby de Eresby in C. K. Sharpe's Corr. (1888) II. 498 The nearest way from point to point. 1864Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 411 Susa was a good point, whence to invade Babylon.
b. spec. The spot at which a policeman is stationed. (Cf. point-duty.) Also, a rallying point or rendezvous for police, military personnel, etc.
1888Pall Mall G. 11 Oct. 2/1, I came..in search of a constable: the one on ‘point’ at Holborn Town Hall could not come. 1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 201 ‘Here, John,’ he shouts to the potman, ‘fetch the man from the point.’.. In a few minutes up comes the potman with a sergeant an' p'liceman. 1963N. Marsh Dead Water (1964) vii. 191 Shall I return to my point, sir? 1967‘S. Woods’ And shame Devil ii. 36, I made my point with t'sergeant... Corner of Badger's Way, that was. 1968P. N. Walker Carnaby & Gaol-breakers viii. 80 P. C. Williams... His last point was in Romanby village. 1972J. Rossiter Rope for General Dietz ix. 128 They're waiting until half-past ten. That's when the Guardia make their point near the Bar El Toro Blanco and wait for thirty minutes.
c. Hunting. colloq. A spot to which a straight run is made; hence a straight run from point to point, a cross-country run. to make his point (of a fox, etc.), to run straight to a spot aimed at. Cf. D. 11.
1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Riding Recoll. (1879) xi. 185 In Leicestershire especially, foxes..will make their point with a stiff breeze blowing in their teeth. Ibid. xii. 211 A sportsman must..admit that ‘ten mile points’ over grass with one of the handsomest packs of [stag-]hounds in the world, are most enjoyable. 1883R. E. Egerton-Warburton Hunting Songs (ed. 7) Introd. 36 The increase of..dwellings prevents a fox, headed at every corner, from making straight to his point. 1896Westm. Gaz. 25 Nov. 9/1 The Belvoir hounds made an eight mile point in a little over 45 minutes. 1920Blackw. Mag. Jan. 108/1 These marshy channels..are the invariable point of any hunted boar. 1939Country Life 11 Feb. p. xxxii/1 After running in all for an hour and forty minutes and making a six and a half miles point. 1977Field 13 Jan. 52/1 Our fox crossed the valley and made his point to Moorhill.
d. pl. Localities or places considered in some special connection, esp. as being in a particular direction from a specified place. (Influenced by sense B. 9.)
1885U. S. Grant Personal Mem. I. xxx. 422 From there [sc. Vicksburg] a railroad runs east, connecting with other roads leading to all points of the Southern States. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 589/1 Freight paid by us to all points east of the west line of Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Louisiana. To points farther west we apply $1 00 on the payment of freight. 1903N.Y. Even. Post 19 Aug. 7/6 The number here is now estimated at 21,000 persons from Eastern points, with fully 35,000 persons in addition from California. 1926Publishers' Weekly 22 May 1684/2 Some of us here get supplies from other points that they know nothing about. Ibid. 18 Dec. 2256 The business must be going to distant points—New York, Chicago, etc. 1933Fortune Aug. 94 Loring F. (‘Red’) Nichols, of Cleveland and points Mid-West, is a crack director and trumpeter. 1969R. Tashkent Ambiguous Man i. 14 She and a friend had started off for Athens and points East. 1969D. Barron Man who was There i. 11 I've been in Pakistan and points East for six weeks. 1973A. Ross Dunfermline Affair 38 We..took the road through Kilmany and Auchtermuchty and all points south west. 1978Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 712/1, I will be testing that later this month in Washington and other points West.
e. (See quot. 1926); spec. a socket fixed in a wall or the like which is connected to an electricity supply and designed to receive the plug of an electrical appliance; = outlet n. 1 e. Cf. also power point s.v. power n.1 18 f.
1904H. Walter Electric Lighting for Inexperienced viii. 82 The cost per point depends..on the materials used for protecting the wires, and whether the wires are run on or under the surface of walls. 1913D. S. Munro Practice of Electr. Wiring xiv. 126 The stamped boxes are not so useful for variety of outlet point. 1921J. H. Havelock Electr. Installation Work xiii. 155 The lamps may be varied at one of the switch points. 1925J. C. Connan Electr. Estimating ix. 167 If the area in square feet to be illuminated is divided by the total number of points (including ceiling roses, wall brackets, and wall plugs), the average area illuminated per point is obtained. 1926Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (Brit. Engin. Stand. Assoc.) 111 Point, in wiring. The termination of the wiring intended for attachment to a fitting for one or more lamps or other consuming devices. 1940G. D. H. & M. Cole Murder at Munition Works 138 Presumably there was a lead to that reading lamp point over there. 1967Listener 21 Dec. 831/2 There is no electric point in her room, so she uses the ceiling light festooned with wires to plug in her iron. 1972M. Babson Murder on Show ix. 107 Helena Keswick plugged an electric kettle into a point underneath the table. 1976Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 16/6 (Advt.), Kitchen/breakfast room,.., floor units and matching wall cupboards and electric cooker point.
21. a. Her. One of nine particular spots or places upon a shield, which serve to determine accurately the position a charge is to occupy. b. Her. The middle part of the chief or base, as distinguished from the dexter or sinister divisions. c. Her. One of a number of horizontal stripes of different tinctures into which a shield may be divided. (See also B. 3 c, D. 4 c.)
c1394P. Pl. Crede 562 Þe penounes & þe pomels & poyntes of scheldes Wiþ-drawen his deuocion. 1508Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 414 A stark gallowis, ane wedy, and a pyn, The hede poynt of thyne elderis armes ar. 1658Phillips, Points, in Heraldry are certain places in an Escutcheon diversly named according to their several positions. 1725Coats Dict. Her. s.v., There are nine principal Points in any Escutcheon... A...the Dexter Chief. B. the..Middle Chief. C. the Sinister Chief. D. the Honour Point. E. the Fesse Point, call'd also the Center. F. the Nombril Point, that is, the Navel Point. G. the Dexter Base. H. the Sinister Base. I. the precise Middle Base. 1865Chambers' Encycl. VII. 626 In order to facilitate the description of a coat-of-arms, it is the practice to suppose the shield to be divided into nine points.
d. Sculpture. Any one of a series of holes drilled in a piece of stone or marble or on the model to be copied to the depth to which the material has to be cut away. Also, the position of such a hole.
1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 142/1 This process is repeated till the numerous points at fixed depths, corresponding throughout with the surface of the model, are attained, and a rough copy of the sculptor's original work is thus mechanically made. 1911A. Toft Modelling & Sculpture 254 A good pointer will keep all his ‘points’ a little ‘full’, by never allowing the needle to go quite home. 1947J. C. Rich Materials & Methods of Sculpture ix. 261 The indirect method of stone carving involves the use of previously prepared three-dimensional models, built up in most cases of plastic clay and then cast in a more durable substance, such as plaster of Paris. The casts are then utilized as master models from which to take points or otherwise copy. 1970Oxf. Compan. Art 884/2 Sometimes hundreds and even thousands of points will be taken to ensure a meticulously exact copy. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 68/1 The final points on the stone are usually left about 1/32 inch (about one millimetre) higher than those on the model to enable the sculptor to put the finishing touches on the stone.
†22. One of the squares of a chessboard. the four points, the four centre squares. Obs.
c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 6044 The vnkouth craft of the tabler And the poyntes of the chekker. c1440Gesta Rom. xxi. 71 (Harl.) The chekir or þe chesse hath viij. poyntes in eche partie. 1474Caxton Chesse 135 The bordeure about is hygher than the squarenes of the poyntes. a1500MS. Ashmole 344 (Bodl.) 10 This is a fair Jupertie to mate a man in on of the iiij poyntes for it cumyth offt in play.
23. a. A definite position in a scale of any kind; a position reached in a course (e.g. dead point); a step, stage, or degree in progress or development, or in increase or decrease; an exact degree of some measurable quality or condition, as temperature (e.g. boiling-point, dew-point, freezing-point, melting-point).
a1425Chaucer's Pars. T. ⁋847 (Harl. MS.) Whan naturel lawe was in his first [6-text right] poynt in paradis. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 5 b, [This] declareth some poynt of our iourney. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 678 The extreme poynt of decay of his house and estate. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 206 Her beauty and comely grace..amounted unto a high point. 1747Freezing Point [see freezing vbl. n. 2]. 1773Boiling point [see boiling vbl. n. 5]. 1792Washington Lett. Writ. 1891 XII. 177 Differences in political opinions are as unavoidable, as, to a certain point, they may perhaps be necessary. 1871B. Stewart Heat §89 The melting points of various substances. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 324, I was brought to the point of trying to learn to sing. 1891Law Times XCII. 93/2 The shares reached their highest point on the 13th June 1890, when they might have been sold for {pstlg}600.
b. A critical position in the course of affairs; a decisive state of circumstances, a juncture; the precise moment for action, an opportunity. Now only in phrases when it comes (came) to the point, and at, on, upon the point of (see D. 1 c, 5).
1375Barbour Bruce vii. 500 In all that tyme schir Amery,..In carleill lay, his poynt to se. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xiii. 114 Atte laste he sawe hys poynte whan that his enemyes were wery. a1533Ld. Berners Huon liii. 178 When it cometh to the poynt ther as strokes shold be gyuen. 1612Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. iv. iii, But now, when it comes to the point, ‘Who am I?’ 1796Jane Austen Pride & Prej. xxvii, Her father..who, when it came to the point, so little liked her going, that he told her to write to him.
c. Phr. up to a (certain) point: to a certain extent, but by no means absolutely.
1823Byron Juan xiii. lxxxi. 95 For good society Is no less famed for tolerance than piety: That is, up to a certain point; which point Forms the most difficult in punctuation. 1916G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion p. xv, As they [sc. Savonarolas and Knipperdollings] know, very sensibly, that a little religion is good for children and serves morality, keeping the poor in good⁓humor or in awe by promising rewards in heaven or threatening torments in hell, they encourage the religious people up to a certain point. 1936― Simpleton ii. 53 Well, it has worked, up to a point. 1951E. Paul Springtime in Paris xvi. 296 He had been an understanding husband up to a certain point. 1961Chicago Daily Tribune 10 Feb. iii. 9/7 But he had in Walter Hendl a willing conductor able only up to a point. 1978P. McCutchan Blackmail North vi. 69 ‘There's been a threat, Shard!’ ‘Being taken seriously?’ ‘Up to a point.’
24. a. In time, that which has ‘position’ but not duration (as the beginning or end of a space of time); the precise time at which anything happens; an instant, moment, as the moment of noon, the moment of death.
a1400R. Brunne's Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8080 Drecchynge by tymes haue [Petyt MS. poyntes haf] þey wrought. c1400Apol. Loll. 28 To ani man in þe poynt of deþ. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) ii. xlii. (1859) 47 In this poynt I herde..a lusty melodye of wonder swete songe. 1653Holcroft Procopius iv. 151 The point of opportunity being past, the greatest endeavours afterward faile. 1737Whiston Josephus, Hist. i. iii. §5 Four hours..are over already, which point of time renders the prediction impossible. 1833–6J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. iv. ii. 380 There is..no assignable point at which the belief was introduced. 1844Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile Poems 1850 I. 30 Though at the last point of a million years.
b. at or on the point of: see D. 1 c, 5.
†25. A (specified) degree of condition; condition, plight, state, case (good, evil, better, etc.). (Cf. F. en bon point.) Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8868 Engelond & normandie in god point he broȝte. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 315 To godus pay is our peple in bettur point founde. c1386Chaucer Prol. 200 A lord ful fat and in good poynt. 1481Caxton Godeffroy cxv. 173 The barons toke counseyl..how they myght conteyne them in this greuous poynt in whiche they were. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xcv. 307 She demaundyd of hym yf he were hole and in good poynt. 1563Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 246 The said kirk is at sik ane point that throw decaying thairof,..the wallis in sindrie partis ar revin. 1685Evelyn Mrs. Godolphin 176 Daniell and his companions..looked fairer and in better point than all the rest. 1732Pope Ess. Man i. 283 Know thy own point..this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee.
V. Figurative and transferred senses.
†26. The highest part or degree; the height, summit, zenith, acme. Obs.
13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1502 In þe poynt of her play he poruayes a mynde. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 17 margin, It is the point of folly to shew a will to hurte him, whom thou canst not..by any meanes annoy. 1640Quarles Enchirid. (1641) Ded., Your Highnesse is the Expectation of the present Age, and the Poynt of future Hopes. 1728Ramsay Bonny Chirsty v, This point of a' his wishes, He wadna with set speeches bauk.
27. a. A distinguishing mark or quality; a distinctive trait or feature; a characteristic.
c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. v. (Parl. Beasts) xxiv, This suddane semblie..Haifand the pointis of ane parliament. c1530H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 438 in Babees Bk. 94 To forbeare in anger is the poynt of a friendly leeche. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 449 b, A shyft of subtle sophisters, and not a poynt of sober Divynes. 1604James I Counterbl. (Arb.) 111 It is become..a point of good fellow⁓ship..to take a pipe of Tobacco. 1694Atterbury Serm., On Prov. xiv. 6 (1726) I. 184 To be cautious, and upon our Guard, in receiving Doctrines..is a Point of great Prudence. 1889T. A. Guthrie Pariah i. ix, Description was not Lettice's strong point.
b. spec. A physical feature in an animal; esp. one by which excellence or purity of breed is judged. (Cf. 14.) pl. Of persons and things: good features, advantages; usu. in phr. to have one's (or its) points.
1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 52 She hath one poynt of a good hauke, she is hardie. 1841Borrow Zincali II. ii. 56 Much better versed in the points of a horse than in points of theology. 1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xxxvii, She seemed to scan his points approvingly. 1894G. Armatage Horse ii. 14 They [American and Canadian horses] are not remarkable for beauty, though not showing any peculiarly unsightly points. Ibid. 20 That the race horse should have all his various points in true relative development. Ibid. iv. 47 The points essential to a hunter are a lean head and neck [etc.]. 1897A. Beardsley Let. 16 Sept. (1970) 369 It was a sad moment when I tore myself from Dieppe... Paris however has points and I am forgetting my sorrow. 1931Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Feb. 157/1 A simple story, but it has its points. 1934E. O'Neill Days without End i. 24 What the devil's got into Walter lately, anyway? Getting drunk as a pastime may have its points, but as an exclusive occupation—. 1946― Iceman Cometh i. 24 Parritt. (With a disparaging glance around) Must be hard up for a place to hang out. Larry. It has its points for him. He never runs into anyone he knows in his business here. 1953B. Gordon-Cumming Gentle Rain 38 She had her points, certainly... In her occasional dreamy moods she was lovely. 1961F. & R. Lockridge (title) Murder has its points.
c. An area of contrasting colour in the fur of certain cats, usually on the face, paws, and tail. Cf. also seal point.
1903F. Simpson Bk. of Cat xxiii. 259/2 The [Siamese] kittens are born absolutely white..and gradually all the points come. 1935E. B. Simmons Cats xxix. 149 Blue points are rare, a sort of ‘sport’. 1955R. Tenent Pedigree Cats vi. 53 The points—marking the mask, ears, legs, feet, and tail—are all a dense and clearly defined seal⁓brown. 1972Ing & Pond Champion Cats of World ii. 87/2 The colouring and points [of Birmans] are as for the Siamese.
28. a. the point: the precise matter in discussion or to be discussed; the essential or important thing. Often in phr. to come to the point, to keep to the point, etc.: see also in point, to the point (D. 4 d, 6 c).
c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 372 But to the poynt, nature held on hire hond A formele egle of shap the gentilleste That euere she a-mong hire werkis fond. c1386― Prol. 790 This is the poynt, to speken short and pleyn. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxix. 236 Come to y⊇ poynt, and vse no more such langage nor suche serymonyes. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. iii. (Arb.) 68 But the point is, I know not how to better my selfe. 1693Creech in Dryden's Juvenal xiii. Argt. (1697) 319 Then coming closer to his Point, he tells him,..The Wicked are severely punish'd by their own Consciences. 1738tr. Guazzo's Art Conversation 12 Let us now come to the Point in Hand. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest ii, ‘Is it impossible for you to speak to the point?’ said La Motte. 1868Helps Realmah (1876) 256 Do keep to the point, my excursive friends. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 18 The point is not who said the words, but whether they are true or not.
b. to make a point of (= F. faire un point de): to treat or regard (something) as essential or indispensable; to make (it) a special object. Usually with vbl. n. or gerund: formerly also to make a point to do something.
a1778Goldsmith in Boswell Johnson 9 Apr., Whenever I write any thing, the publick make a point to know nothing about it. a1806Fox Hist. Jas. II (1808) 12 The King made no point of adhering to his concessions. 1823W. Tennant Cdl. Beaton iv. iii. 121, I mak a pount to be an e'e-witness o' ilka business o' that sort. 1833H. Martineau Brooke Farm vii. 88 Her husband made such a point of his tea that she had little hope of persuading him to give it up. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. 581 A former colleague of mine in the Oxford Schools always made a point of describing him as ‘William the Purchaser’.
29. a. That at which one aims, or for which one strives or contends; aim, object, end. Also, (the expression of) an important fact or truth; a noteworthy comment. Phrases to carry one's point: see carry v. 17 b; to have a point: to have made a convincing or significant remark; to be correct (in a particular matter).
13..De Sancta Anastasia 86 in Horstmann Altengl. Leg. (1881) 26 Þe prynce..Opon a day his poynt wold proue. 1580Sidney Ps. xxxi. vii, They their counsells led All to this point, how my poore life to take. 1607Shakes. Cor. ii. ii. 43 It remaines, As the maine Point of this our after-meeting. 1689Popple tr. Locke's Toleration L.'s Wks. 1727 II. 250 The Magistrate..will have his Will, and carry his Point. 1700Pepys Diary, etc. (1879) VI. 217 The old East India Company have..obtained their great point against the new, by having got their Bill passed. 1776Sir J. Reynolds Disc. vii. (1876) 408 If they make it the point of their ambition. 1857W. Collins Dead Secret iii. ii, She ended..by carrying her own point, and having her own way. c1939A. D. Lindsay Let. in D. Scott A. D. Lindsay (1971) xv. 258, I have now read the article with interest and appreciation but it doesn't meet my point at all. 1962Listener 22 Feb. 342/2 Is it possible that the Doctor had a point? 1963Ibid. 21 Feb. 350/2 What most convinced me they had a point was the line taken by the interviewer. 1978L. Thomas Ormerod's Landing ii. 20 ‘Right,’ he agreed sportingly. ‘You've got a point, Ormerod.’
b. to make a point: to establish a proposition, to prove a contention; also gen. to attain something that one is aiming at.
1809J. Marshall Const. Opin. v. (1839) 112 Two points have been made in this cause. 1865M. Arnold Ess. Crit. ii. (1875) 87 All it exists for is to get its ends, to make its points. 1886Manch. Exam. 3 Nov. 3/1 His evident desire to make every point that can possibly be made against the Clark lecturer.
c. to take (someone's) point (and variants): to understand the import or significance of what is being said; to concede the truth or value of a particular contention.
1898G. B. Shaw You never can Tell ii. 254 Do I take your point rightly, Mr McComas? 1901― Capt. Brassbound's Conversion iii. 276 Rankin (cannily). I take your point, Leddy Ceecily. It alters the case. 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) v. 187, I see. I quite see your point. Ibid. 188 Yes, yes: I see, said the dean quickly, I quite catch the point. 1943N. Marsh Colour Scheme x. 187 ‘The point is quite well taken,’ he said at last. 1961C. Willock Death in Covert viii. 168 ‘You have absolutely nothing to go on except your sixth sense.’ ‘Point taken.’ 1964R. Braddon Year Angry Rabbit xii. 104 ‘But this is dusk,’ Fitzgerald objected. ‘Yes, dear,’ Karen got the point quickly, ‘which for nocturnals is what dawn is to us.’ 1966Listener 3 Nov. 658/2, I take his point about Laszlo Rajk. 1969V. Gielgud Necessary End xxiii. 205 ‘A First Officer who doesn't play along to an extent with female passengers would probably be considered to be neglecting his job.’ ‘Point taken.’ 1974E. Lemarchand Buried in Past x. 168 ‘The affair'll have to be shelved.’ ‘I take your point, sir,’ Pollard replied. 1976J. Wainwright Bastard ii. 35 He nods and says, ‘Okay. Point taken.’
d. Sense, purpose, or advantage (in or of a course of action, state of affairs, etc.). Chiefly in negative contexts, esp. in phr. there is no point in, it has no purpose, it is pointless.
In some cases there are connotations of sense B. 10.
1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman ii. 60 Look here, Ann: if theres no harm in it theres no point in doing it. 1923W. S. Maugham Our Betters ii. 85 Thornton has plenty of money. Do you think there is any point in his spending his life making more? 1934J. B. Priestley Eden End i. 6 What's the point of reading if it makes you feel uncomfortable? 1947― Inspector Calls ii. 49 Inspector. And if her story is true—that he was stealing money—. Mrs. Birling..There's no point in assuming that. 1953K. Amis Lucky Jim xix. 208 ‘Give me your address, Christine.’ She looked at him scornfully... ‘That'll do no good at all. What on earth would be the point?’ 1957J. Osborne Look Back in Anger iii. ii. 90 Helena. There doesn't seem much point in trying to explain everything, does there? 1966M. Frayn Russian Interpreter xxxvii. 207 Was there any possible point for Manning in trying to deny all knowledge of those activities? 1968C. Churchill in New Eng. Dramatists XII. 96 Tim. Was it nice in the aeroplane? Grandfather. I didn't really notice. Tim. What's the point of being in it then? 1971P. Mortimer Home viii. 80 ‘Will you.. get married?’.. ‘There doesn't seem any point.’ 1973G. Greene Hon. Consul v. ii. 262 Tell Pablo to come in. If they have spotted us, there is no point in leaving him outside to be picked off alone. 1977Times 1 June 17/5 If..it were true that many Anglican or Roman Catholic Christians could not accept this fundamental affirmation..we should have to ask whether there is any point in continuing to search for unity.
e. debating point: see debating vbl. n. b.
30. A conclusion, completion, culmination, end, ‘period’. Also full point. ? Obs.
c1325Spec. Gy Warw. 278 Habent mortem sine morte et finem mortis sine fine. Hij sholen haue deþ wid-oute deiing And point of deþ wid-outen ending. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 2107 But shortly to the point thanne wol I wende, And maken of my longe tale an ende. c1540Heywood Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 352 Ye shall never have them at a full point. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions Ded. 3 To bring that to some good pointe, that earst I had begonne. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. i. ii. 10 First,..say what the play treats on: then read the names of the Actors: and so grow on to a point. 1633Durie in Presbyt. Rev. (1887) 307 Thought it necessarie to put the matter to some poynt at that diet. 1686Burnet Trav. v. (1750) 245, I thought I had made so full a Point at the Conclusion of my last Letter, that I should not have given you the Trouble of reading any more Letters. 1833H. Martineau Tale Tyne i. 7 He is bringing his invention to a point.
†31. Determination, decision, resolution. Obs.
1477[see at a point, D. 1 d]. 1481Caxton Godeffroy xxxii. 68 At thende the kyng cam so to poynt that they were appeased goodly. 1530Cranmer in Strype Life (1694) App. 5 After all this he commeth to the poynte to save the Kyngs honour. 1578T. Wilcocks Serm. Pawles Cr. 22 A great sorte are at a playne poynt, they are carelesse of their soules, so their bodye maye bee free. 1678Bunyan Pilgr. i. 6, I begin to come to a point; I intend to go along with this good man. 1738[see at a point, D. 1 d].
VI. From 16th c. F. point = 15–16th c. It. punto; derived from the sense prick, through that of stitch, work done with stitches with the needle.
As English used the native word stitch (OE. stice, from OTeut. *stikan to prick, stab, etc.) for the prick of the needle in sewing, the corresponding Fr. use of point was not adopted, and the development of this sense was entirely in Italian and French. The It. name punto in aria occurs at Venice in 1476.
32. a. Thread lace made wholly with the needle (also called more fully point lace, needle-point lace, needle-point); also improperly applied to pillow lace imitating that done with the needle, and sometimes to lace generally: often named from the place of manufacture, as Alençon point, Venetian point, point of Genoa, Spain, etc.: cf. point n.3 b.
1662Evelyn Chalcogr. 56 Isabella, who was his wife, publish'd a book of all the sorts of Points, Laces, and Embroderies. 1673Ray Trav. 156 Venice is noted..for Needle-work Laces called Points. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 148 To know the Age and Pedigrees Of Poynts of Flandres or Venise. 1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2150/4 Lost.., Two Pieces of Old Point of Spain Three Yards long; and a Quarter of a Yard broad, some of it sowed upon a Parchment, and new Purled. 1745Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 186 Another would not for the world wear lace; but she will wear point, and sees no harm in it at all. 1864F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xiii. (1902) 198 A costly work of Alençon point appeared in the Exhibition of 1855. 1882A. S. Cole in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 186/1 The different sorts of early Venetian point laces are called ‘flat Venetian point’, ‘rose (raised) point’, ‘caterpillar point’, ‘bone point’, &c. 1900Westm. Gaz. 24 May 3/1 The Irish crochet point is..the best-known of all Irish laces. 1906Ibid. 28 Feb. 12/1 Bucks lace, or ‘Bucks pillow point’, as the fine work is usually called, dates back..as far as the sixteenth century.
attrib.1672Dryden Marr. à la Mode iii. i, My new point gorget shall be yours upon't. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 252 Fine point or Lace sleeves and Ruffles.
b. A piece of lace used as a kerchief or the like.
1663Pepys Diary 18 Oct., My wife in her best gowne and new poynt that I bought her the other day, to church with me. 1687Sedley Bellam. i. Wks. 1722 II. 90 She..had but one poor Point of her own making. 1756M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 308 Her hair curled and powdered, with a little cap, or perhaps but a point, and nothing more on their heads.
33. A marking on a Hudson's Bay or Mackinaw blanket indicating weight.
1780in Beaver (1935) June 47 [They] had misunderstood him about the price of the pointed plankets as the points were known to every Indian to be the price to be paid for each as 2½ points, 2½ beaver, 3 points, 3 beaver, etc. 1818T. L. McKenney Mem. (1846) I. 309 Northwest Company blankets—so called—three points, to measure six feet six inches long. 1921Outing Nov. 82/1 Hudson Bay blankets run as follows: Three point, 60 × 72 inches, double, weight, 81/4 lbs.; 3½ point, 63 × 81 inches, double, weight, 10 lbs.; 4 point, 72 × 90 inches, double, weight, 12 lbs. ‘Points’ refer to the markings on the blankets and indicate their size. 1935Beaver June 47 The ‘point’ on the blanket in its present standardized form is comparatively modern, being introduced in 1850. Prior to that date blankets of the Hudson's Bay Company were made with the bar only by individuals in their own homes, each maker putting a distinctive mark, a ‘point’ on his product to show the size and weight. These ‘points’ were usually in coloured wools and usually about one inch long. 1954E. E. Rich Moose Fort Jrnl., 1783–85 371 Originally the points and staves of the blankets were blue, but the colour was changed to red in 1786.
B. = F. pointe. (L. cuspis, mucro, Ger. spitze.)
I.
1. a. A sharp end to which anything tapers, used for pricking, piercing, scratching, pointing out, etc.: as of a weapon, tool, pin, pen, pencil, pointer.
a1330Syr Degarre 1059 Thi swerd..The point is in min aumenere. He tok the point, and set ther to. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1791 Lucrece, This swerd thour out thyn herte shal I ryue..And sette the poynt [v.r. swerd] al sharp vp-on hire herte. c1391― Astrol. ii. §40, I tok a subtil compas, & cleped þat on poynt of my compas A, & þat oþer poynt F. Than tok I the point of A, & set it in [the] Ecliptik line euene in my zodiak. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 27 Take also a litill bawme on þe poynt of þi knyffe. a1425Cursor M. 10626 (Trin.) May no mon write wiþ penne point. c1440Promp. Parv. 406/2 Poynte, of a scharpe toole,..cuspis, mucro, pennum. 1483Wardr. Acc. 1 Rich. III, iij swerdes whereof oon with a flat poynt, called curtana. c1500Lancelot 798 It lyith one your speris poynt. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 It is not so moche as a pynnes poynt, compared to y⊇ hole erth. 1611Bible Jer. xvii. 1 The sinne of Iudah is written with a pen of yron, and the point of a diamond. 1722Quincy Lex. Physico-Med. (ed. 2) 5 Particles that affect the Taste with Points sharp and piercing. 1808Scott Marm. vi. xxv, Scarce could they hear, or see their foes, Until at weapon-point they close. 1826M. R. Mitford Our Village II. 248 A pencil without a point. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 316 Scorpions have..an arcuated and excessively acute point or sting. 1840Lardner Geom. i. 6 The point of the finest needle. 1886C. F. Woolson East Angels vii. 129 He sharpened all the pencils industriously, taking pains to give each one a very fine point. 1897Merriman In Kedar's Tents xxvii, It is a pretty spot for the knife—nothing to turn a point. 1963C. Fremlin Trouble Makers xviii. 140 Hundreds of coloured pencils without points went back into their dozens of boxes without lids. 1979‘J. Le Carré’ Smiley's People (1980) xvi. 189 Herr Kretzschmar owned a fine gold pencil... He popped out the point and..drew a pure circle.
†b. Rendering L. acies (‘front of an army’).
1382Wyclif Deut. xx. 2 The preest shal stoond bifore the poynt [Vulg. aciem], and thus he shal spek to the puple.
c. Short for point of the sword (or other weapon). to come to points: to begin fighting (with swords).
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 21, I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point. 1652Tatham Scotch Figgaries iv. i, But mayn't I Bar points, being the Challenged? 1762Smollett Sir L. Greaves iii. (1793) I. 70 They would have come to points immediately, had not the gentlemen interposed. 1887Sir F. Pollock in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 801/2 The effective use of the point is a mark of advanced skill. Ibid., St. Louis anticipated Napoleon in calling on his men to use the point.
d. fig. phr. to put too fine a point upon: to express with unnecessary delicacy; not to state bluntly or in plain terms. (Chiefly in negative contexts.)
1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xi, He was—not to put too fine a point upon it—..hard up! 1911H. S. Harrison Queed iv. 45 The Post, not to put too fine a point upon it, had for a time run fast to seed. 1926F. W. Crofts Inspector French & Cheyne Mystery iii. 40 Not to put too fine a point on it the situation is this: You are there, and you can't get out, and you can't attract attention to your predicament. 1935C. Isherwood Mr. Norris changes Trains x. 155 He seems to have suggested, not to put too fine a point upon it, that you were an accomplice in my nefarious crimes. 1952A. J. Cronin Adventures in Two Worlds i. vi. 52 This outbreak of scarlet fever... It's spreading, you know, and I find that in all my cases.., well, not to put too fine a point on it—the milk has come from Shawhead. 1971‘E. Candy’ Words for Murder Perhaps iv. 44 One of the doctor's most cherished personal finds, now happily in the City Museum, was, not to put too fine a point on it, a fake. 1977It May 10/3 Not to put too fine a point on it, one could say that the real picture consists of nothing but exceptions to the rule.
e. Phr. to a (fine) point: to a precise form; completely.
1888in Farmer & Henley Slang (1902) V. 241/2 Boiled down to a fine point bondsmen are in demand. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-Made Merchant xvii. 253 When she was through I knew that I'd been licked—polished right off to a point.
2. a. The (or a) salient or projecting part of anything, of a more or less tapering form, or ending in an acute angle; a tip, apex; a sharp prominence.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §7 At the poynt of thy label in the bordure set a prikke..at the point of thi label set a-nother prikke. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 80 Stanes, þe whilk er noȝt so hard as dyamaundes, and comounly þaire poyntes er broken off. 1483Cath. Angl. 285/2 A Poynte of a nese, pirula. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 7, I prethee Tom, beate Cuts Saddle, put a few Flockes in the point: the poore lade is wrung in the withers. 1644Bulwer Chirol. 69 Hold up the Hand hollow above the Shoulder points. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 154 The Stern is very low, but the Head is as high again, and draws into a sharp point as the Gondolos of Venice. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. xiii. 276 By spreading their sails horizontally, and by putting bullets in the centers of them to draw them to a point, they caught as much [rain] water, as filled all their cask. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 441 The chrysalides are always rounded, or without angular elevations or points. 1841James Brigand iii, Let them get round yon point of the rock. 1881C. Gibbon Heart's Problem iii, Mr. Calthorpe tapped the points of the fingers of each hand together.
fig.1625B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. v, He is my Nephew, and my Chiefe, the Point, Tip, Top, and Tuft of all our family!
b. spec. The tapering extremity of any promontory or piece of land running into the sea; a tapering promontory, a cape: often in geographical names, as Start Point, Point of Ardnamurchan. Also transf. (chiefly U.S.), such a feature on a river; the tapering extremity of any woodland reaching down into a prairie or other treeless area; any tapering extremity of land, or of rocks, woods, etc., constituting a special feature of this; a peak of a mountain or hill.
1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 32 He discouered a corner or poynt of the sayd mayne land. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xviii, The point of the Sarail, whereupon the sea beateth. 1603Owen Pembrokeshire i. (1892) 4 From Kemes head called Pen Kemes pointe North, to St. Gouens pointe in the Southe. 1604E. G[rimstone] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xxvii. 201 The land..casting his capes, points and tongues farre into the sea. 1637in Amer. Speech (1940) XV. 297/2 Easterly butting out with a point of wood. 1660Early Rec. Warwick, Rhode Island (1926) 256 His point of Meddowe on the south side of Occupessuatuxet Cove. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 260 The Mountain of Elwend, which is discover'd..by the whitenesse of its sand and by the extraordinary height of its points. 1682Early Rec. Providence, Rhode Island (1899) XIV. 101 A black Oake tree standing upon a point of Rocks. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., The Seamen also call the Extremity of any Promontary (which is a Piece of Land running out into the Sea) a Point; which is of much the same Sense with them as the Word Cape. 1772D. Taitt in N. D. Mereness Trav. Amer. Col. (1916) 501, I..viewed this Town which Stands upon a point of Land on the North west side of the River. 1826T. Flint Recollections 15 You hear of..sawyers, and points, and bends, and shoots. Ibid. 258 The entire uniformity of the meanders of the rivers [in Arkansas] called, in the phrase of the country, ‘points and bends’. 1836W. Irving Astoria I. 144 The party landed, and encamped at the bottom of a small bay within point George. 1837― Capt. Bonneville II. vii. 108 The whole band soon disappeared behind a point of woods. 1857P. Cartwright Autobiogr. xxi. 328 We rode two miles, and the point of timber was plain in view. 1859‘Mark Twain’ in New Orleans Daily Crescent 17 May, The point at Cairo, which has not even been moistened by the river since 1813, is now entirely under water. 1883― Life on Miss. iii. 61 The big raft was away out of sight around the point. 1964W. C. Putnam Geol. xi. 275/2 The common name for a broadly curving part of a river is a bend. The convex bank in such a curve is a point.
†c. The wing of a fleet or army. Obs.
1550T. Nycolls Thucidides 222 b, The Peloponesians auaunced..to the ende to haue enclosed with their left poyncte, the ryght poynct of the Athenians. 1614Raleigh Hist. World v. v. §8. 698 The Latines, as vsually, were in the points; the Romans, in the maine battell.
d. Mil. The small leading party of an advanced guard (consisting usually of an experienced non-commissioned officer and four men).
1589Discourse Voy. Spain & Port. 30 Sir Henrie Norris (whose Regiment had the poynt of the Vangard). 1903Ld. Wolseley Story of a Soldier's Life I. ii. 62 What is now commonly called ‘the point of the advanced guard’ consisted of four privates and myself.
e. pl. The extremities of a horse.
1855Smedley H. Coverdale xliii, A particularly fast mare..bay, with black points. 1872R. F. Burton Zanzibar I. ix. 347 The favourite charger of the late Sayyid is a little bay with black points. 1883W. H. Bishop in Harper's Mag. Oct. 720/2 He is sixteen hands high, dark bay, and has black points.
f. the Point: the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. U.S. colloq.
1828J. F. Cooper Notions of Americans I. 274 To these relics of a former age, must be added the actual and flourishing establishment at the ‘Point’, which comprises a village of academic buildings, barracks, and other adjuncts. 1922Frontier (Missoula, Montana) Nov. 14 Ada's father had been C.O. when we were in the Point, and nearly every member of the class had been at one time or another in love with her. 1968Michelin: New York City 139 West Point... Among the war heroes who graduated from the Point are Generals MacArthur (1903), Patton (1909) and Eisenhower (1915). 1971C. Fick Danziger Transcript (1973) 167 Sam had worked his way into Dartmouth..and then transferred to the Point. 1973E. Pace Any War (1974) iii. 239 ‘I've been learning karate... We had the fundamentals at the Point.’ ‘You went to West Point?’
g. The tip of the lower jaw; the spot on which a knock-out blow is dealt.
1898[see out adv. 19 e]. 1901R. Fitzsimmons Phys. Cult. & Self-Defense 159, I saw Fitzsimmons' right hand reach the point of Corbett's jaw. 1915E. Corri 30 Yrs. Boxing Referee 229 There is no sleeping-draught like a punch on the point. 1923Daily Mail 16 Feb. 8 He once caught Lewis with a hard right near the point. 1924Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 Point, sensitive portion of the jaw. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §121/18 Point,..the vulnerable point of the chin.
h. Either of the extensions at the front end of a saddle-tree.
1908Animal Managem. 166 The front arch extends below the side bars; the extension is known as the ‘points’, and these are intended to help the girths and prevent the saddle from heeling over.
i. Ballet. The tips of the toes. Usu. with on and pl. = pointe.
1912Dancing Times Aug. 449/2 Points.—Exposition of Principles. 1928A. L. Haskell Some Studies in Ballet 153 A solo on the points. 1936L. Sokolova in ‘C. Brahms’ Footnotes to Ballet v. 227, I held myself poised on my points, before literally collapsing exhausted in the middle of the stage. 1936N. Streatfeild Ballet Shoes iv. 52 The children were most impressed by the way the children in the photographs stood on their points. 1949A. Christie Crooked House x. 71 ‘He stopped me learning to be a ballet dancer.’.. She..kicked off her shoes and endeavoured to get on to what are called technically..her points. 1967‘La Meri’ Spanish Dancing (ed. 2) vii. 89 Very rarely it [sc. the Bolero] is danced on point. 1975New Yorker 26 May 31/1 Mr. Griforovich, who was watching a tiny blond ballerina rise on point with the single-minded intensity of an adult star, put a hand across his face to conceal a smile. 1977Time 24 Jan. 36/3 In a pas de deux with Ted Kivitt, she stepped majestically on point..as if there were magnets concealed in her toe shoes.
j. U.S. The position at the front of a herd of cattle, etc.; the position at the head of a column or wedge of troops (cf. sense B. 2 d); also quasi-adv. in phrases to ride point or walk point. Also fig.
1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd xiv. 245 You see a herd drifting before a storm maybe—a blizzard like yesterday, with your pal riding point. 1927Scribner's Mag. Feb. 178/1 Consider the passing herd, anyone of the many that went up the Long Trail. At the ‘point’ ride two men, at the ‘drag’ two more, while other horsemen loiter on either flank. 1959C. Ogburn Marauders (1960) ii. 64 Major Osborne looked around and his eye alighted on me. ‘You take the point,’ said he... He thought the way to use a communications officer was to have him lead the battalion column into action. 1962J. Onslow Bowler-Hatted Cowboy xxi. 205, I was riding ‘point’, not as a leader to the cattle, but to warn oncoming traffic of the herd. 1964F. O'Rourke Mule for Marquesa 118 Fardan trotted past the mules and took the point. 1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam v. 102 Goad walked point and I..took the tail, with the rest of squad well spaced out between us. 1970Times 9 May 8/8 Daniel Lepointe, aged 21, a sergeant..was walking point—the front position of his platoon—when..a helicopter observer told him about two huts. 1975W. Safire Before Fall i. iv. 45 He said no: ‘Let Romney take the point.’ (In military tactics, the soldier ‘on the point’ of a wedge is the most likely to be shot.) 1977‘J. Le Carré’ Hon. Schoolboy iv. 100 Let me send you an advocate. Somebody who can ride point for you, draft your submission, carry it to the barricades.
k. N.Z. The hocks of a sheep; the wool that grows on them.
1922W. Perry Sheepfarming in N.Z. iv. 44 The wool should be..well spread on the back, belly, and points. a1948L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 379 Fribby,..the yolky locks round the points taken off by the roller from a decently skirted fleece. 1956G. Bowen Wool Away! (ed. 2) xii. 132 The Corriedale..grows more wool than hair on the hocks, thereby making it imperative that they be shorn trimmed to the feet. These points or socks do not have a tendency to lift or rise off the skin.
3. An object or instrument consisting of or characterized by a point (in sense 1), or which pricks or pierces.
a. A pointed weapon or instrument for stabbing or piercing; a dagger, pointed sword, or the like; also, a bodkin.
1488Inv. R. Wardr. (1815) 5 Item,..within the said box a point maid of perle contenand xxv perle with hornis of gold. c1520Treat. Galaunt 134 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 157 Howe many poyntes were they nowe a dayes And yet a good poynte amonge them were to fynde Daggers of vengeaunce, redy to make frayes. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iv, I will learne you..to controll any enemies point i' the world. 1627Lisander & Cal. iii. 54 Lidian, who entring with a point upon his enemy,..run him cleane thorow. 1719Young Busiris iii. i, Let each man bear A steady point, well levell'd at his heart.
b. ‘An iron or steel instrument used with some variety in several arts’ (Chambers Cycl.); e.g. a pin-pointed tool used by etchers and engravers, an etching-needle: cf. dry-point (dry a. C. 3); a small punch or chisel used by stone-workers, etc.
1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Engravers, etchers, wooden-cutters, stone-cutters, etc. use points to trace their designs on the copper, wood, stone, etc... Statuaries..have likewise points in manner of little chissels, used in first forming or sketching out their work... Lapidaries have iron points, to the ends whereof are fastened pieces of diamonds, serving to pierce the precious stones withal. c1790J. Imison Sch. Art ii. 40 If the lines are too small, pass over them again with a short but round point. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 341 The Point is the smallest kind of chisel used by masons. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vii. ii. §6. 115 note, No cloud can be drawn with the point: nothing but the most delicate management of the brush. 1880Print. Trades Jrnl. xxxi. 9 The Royal sketches evince a true feeling for art, and much ability with the etching point.
c. Her. A bearing resembling a pile, usually occupying the base of the shield; reckoned a ‘diminution’ or mark of dishonour.
1562Leigh Armorie 124 He beareth a poynte playne, Geules, in a fielde, Or. This is for hym yt telleth lyes, to hys soueraigne. 1830Robson Hist. Her. Gloss., Point, according to Edmondson, (meaning the point pointed), is an ordinary somewhat resembling the Pile, issuing from the Base.
d. A tine of a deer's horn.
1863Kingsley Water-Bab. ii. (1874) 69 You may know some day..what his rights mean, if he has them, brow, bay, tray, and points. 1884Jefferies Red Deer iv. 68 An antler is judged by the number of points or tines which spring from the beam. The beam is the main stem, and the points are the branches. 1885Roosevelt Hunting Trips iv. 107 He was a fine buck of eight points.
e. Electr. A metallic point at which electricity is discharged or collected; spec. (a) the tapering extremity of a lightning conductor; (b) in an internal-combustion engine, either of the metal pieces on a sparking plug between which the spark jumps, or either of the metal surfaces of a contact-breaker which touch to complete the circuit; usu. pl.; also, each of the carbon points or pencils in an electric light (see carbon n. 2).
1766in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1916) LII. 275 A new Meeting-House building..was struck with Lightning; it had Points and a Conductor as far as the Bellfree. 1775in Ibid. (1877) XIII. 208 They have a handsome clock, points to the house, a fine walk on the top, [etc.]. 1836–41Brande Chem. (ed. 5) 261 The influence of points in receiving and carrying off electricity has already been adverted to. 1849Craig, Point,..in Electricity, the acute termination of a body which facilitates the passage of the fluid to or from the body. c1865Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 136/2 As the points burn away, the springs keep up a fresh supply. 1870‘Mark Twain’ in Galaxy Sept. 424/1 He said it would be necessary to know exactly how many ‘points’ I wanted put up, what parts of the house I wanted them on, and what quality of rod I preferred. 1902Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. 10/1 At the rate of a foot in five minutes the carbon point wrought its way, and in a short time the enormous mass of steel had been reduced to fragments that could be easily handled. 1902J. E. Hutton in A. C. Harmsworth Motors & Motor-Driving viii. 150 The points may be sooty and require cleaning. 1927R. T. Nicholson Austin Seven Bk. xiii. 116 The rapid separation of the points of the contact-breaker. 1961J. Mills Car Repair & Maintenance iv. 41 If this happened, there would not be a suitably fat spark at the plug points and the contact breaker points would become burned. 1968K. Weatherly Roo Shooter 111, I must have dried the flamin' plugs and points twenty times.
f. On a railway: A tapering movable rail by which vehicles are directed from one line of rails to another. Usually in pl.
1838Simms Public Wks. Gt. Brit. 27 Moveable points or sliding rails, and the requisite machinery for moving them. 1885Scotsman 11 June, A south bound goods train..ran into the safety points, crashing against the buffer end with great violence. 1889G. Findlay Eng. Railway 53 It is impossible for the signalman to lower the signals..until the ‘points’ or ‘switches’ have been placed in their proper position.
g. One of the twelve tapered divisions on each ‘table’ of a backgammon board.
1588Greene Pandosto (1843) 9 That his friend Egistus had entered a wrong pointe in his tables. 1595Southwell Tri. Death (1596) 22 God casteth the dice, and giueth vs our chaunce; the most we can doe, is, to take the poynt that the cast will affoord vs. 1680Cotton Gamester xxv. 109 Of Irish... The men which are thirty in number are equally divided between you and your Adversary, and are thus placed, two on the Ace point, and five on the sice of your left hand Table. Ibid. xxvii. 114 (Tick-tack) Boveries is when you have a man in the eleventh point of your own Tables, and another in the same point of your Adversaries directly answering. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Backgammon 142 The next best point..is to make your bar-point. 1905Fiske Chess in Iceland 279 Some confusion is caused by the fact that we English use point both for the ‘dots’ on the dice and the twenty-four points (Fr. ‘flèches’) on the board.
In other applications.
h. † A kind of nail or spike (obs.); a glazier's sprig (Cent. Dict.).
†i. An agnail or hangnail; = agnail 3 Obs.
†j. A small piece of heavy wood pieced into the butt of an arrow to counterbalance the head. Obs.
k. † A rough diamond of a certain shape (obs.); also, an angular fragment of diamond adapted for glass-cutting (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875).
l. A thorn.
m. One of the interchangeable pointed legs of a pair of compasses.
n. A name of certain surgical instruments.
o. Archæol. (See quot. 1959.)
h.1590Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 374 A gr[oss] doble hard poyntes, iis. iid.
i.1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 73 If about these nails be an excoriation of the flesh, which is commonly called ‘points’.
j.1545R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 127 Two poyntes in peecing be ynough, lest the moystnes of the earthe enter to moche into the peecinge, and so leuse the glue. Therefore many poyntes be more pleasaunt to the eye, than profitable for the vse.
k.1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 213 The Names of Rough Stones [diamonds], according to their Forms and Substance... A Point... An ½ Point [etc.].
l.1604E. G[rimstone] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xvii. 373 Every one tooke a poynt of Manguay, which is like vnto an awle or sharpe bodkin, with the which..they pierced the calfes of their legges neare to the bone, drawing foorth much blood. 1893P. H. Emerson On Eng. Lagoons xxxix. 231 That's good for drawing points..out of your hand.
m.1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. ii. 53 A Brass pair of Compasses to go with an Arch and Screws..and four Steel Points to take in and out.
n.1890A. Whitelegge Hygiene & Public Health xii. 263 The lymph may be sealed in capillary tubes or dried upon ivory points. Ibid. 264 If stored calf-lymph is used, two large ‘points’ are needed for each child. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 776 Our practice is confined to two methods, namely tonsillotomy and the galvano-caustic point.
o.1912Archaeologia LXIII. 129 (caption) A symmetrical ‘point’ of laurel-leaf form.., but the surface flaking only partial. 1932Antiquity VI. 190 The true Mousterian industries are characterized by flake-tools such as side⁓scrapers, points and Levallois flakes. 1943J. & C. Hawkes Prehist. Britain i. 19 The Levalloisian, an outstanding culture during the last interglacial, when it was responsible for beautifully finished points and scrapers which..were partially trimmed before the flake was struck from the parent core. 1949W. F. Albright Archaeol. Palestine iii. 59 The Natufian was a thorough-going microlithic culture, consisting largely of blades and points. 1959J. D. Clark Prehist. S. Africa ii. 42 Point, a pointed flake or blade, often with careful secondary retouch, or a pointed tool of bone. Believed to have sometimes formed the heads of spears and arrows. 1963J. Hawkes in Hawkes & Woolley Prehist. & Beginnings of Civilization i. iii. 71 Implements found..in the Solo valley..include..points and picks made from bone and antler. 1971J. Bordaz Tools of Old & New Stone Age iv. 31 In regions where good stone is comparatively abundant,..it is not unusual to find Levallois points up to six inches long.
4. a. Printing. One of the short sharp pins fixed on the tympan of a press so as to perforate the sheet and serve to make register.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ⁋19 This Point is made of a piece of small Wyer about a quarter and half quarter of an Inch high. Ibid. xxiv. ⁋7 To large Paper he chuses Short Shanked Points, and to small Paper Long Shanked Points. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Printing, To regulate the margins, and make the lines and pages answer each other when printed on the other side; in the middle of the wood, in the sides of this tympan, are two iron points, which make two holes in the sheet. 1825–88[see paste-point s.v. paste n. 8].
b. Short for point-plate (see D. 19).
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ⁋19 The Points are made of Iron Plates about the thickness of a Queen Elizabeth Shilling:..at the end of this Plate..stands upright the Point. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. 514 Points are made of sheet iron, of different lengths, about the sixteenth part of an inch thick... The spur of the point is rivetted at the small end, and projects about three eighths of an inch.
II.
5. A tagged lace or cord, of twisted yarn, silk, or leather, for attaching the hose to the doublet, lacing a bodice, and fastening various parts where buttons are now used; often used as a type of something of small value (esp. blue point). Now arch. or Hist.[In this sense point renders F. aiguillette, orig. an aglet or metal point of a lace or cord, thence a lace with an aglet. English (on the whole) retained aglet for the metal point or tag, and translated it by point for the cord.] 1390Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 35 Johanni Dounton pro j gros poyntes, iij s. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 33 Y might, and y satte lowe, breke sum of my pointes. c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 241 Two doseyn poyntys of cheverelle, the aglottes of sylver feyn. 1530Palsgr. 256/1 Poynt for ones hose, esguillette. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 675/2 It is not al worth an aglet of a good blewe poynte. 1549Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 117 He made hys pen of the aglet of a poynte that he plucked from hys hose. a1550Debate Somer & Wynter 132 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 41 All is not worthe a poynte of lether. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1094 [They] made thongs and points of the skins of men and women, whom they had flaine quick. 1615E. Hoby Curry-combe vi. 265 He hath hardly earned a blew point for his daies worke. 1647Peacham Worth of Penny 17 So naturally sparing, that if a point from his hose had broken, he would have tied the same upon a knot, and made it to serve againe. 1739‘R. Bull’ tr. Dedekindus' Grobianus 260 A chilling Fear surprizes all his Joints, And makes him ready to untruss his Points. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xx, Assistance in tying the endless number of points, as the laces which attached the hose to the doublet were then termed. [See also aglet n. 1.]
†6. A plait of hair; a pigtail. Obs.
1603B. Jonson Entertainm. Coronat. K. Jas. Wks. (1616) 844 Her hayre bound into foure seuerall points.
7. Naut. One of the short pieces of flat braided cord attached near the lower edge of a sail for tying up a reef; a reef-point: see reef n.1 3.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) H h iv, The courses of large ships are either reefed with points or..reef-lines. 1801Chron. in Ann. Reg. 44 [He] called to the boatswain to bring a point (a rope doubled with knots at the end), and give the plaintiff a ‘starting’. 1859All Year Round No. 17. 399 Midshipmen into the tops to see the points tied!
8. A short buckling strap.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Point..17. (Harness.) A short strap stitched to a wide one for the purpose of attaching the latter to another strap by a buckle. The end of any strap that is provided with holes for the buckle-tongue.
III. 9. Each of the equidistant points on the circumference of the mariner's compass, indicated by one of the thirty-two rays drawn from the centre, which serve to particularize the part of the horizon whence the wind is blowing or in the direction of which an object lies; also transf. the angular interval between two successive points (one-eighth of a right angle, or 11° 15′). Hence, any of the corresponding points, or in general any point, of the horizon; thus often nearly = Direction. (In ordinary use, usually point of the compass; in absol. use chiefly Naut.)
a1500in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 86 When the wynde is in any poynte of the northe all the fowle stynke is blowen ouer the citee [London]. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 257 The roses of the windes or pointes of the compasse. 1556Burrough ibid. (1886) III. 117 The land lyeth North and halfe a point Westerly. 1592Lyly Gallathea i. iv. 33 The two and thirty poynts for the winde. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 206 To this day they [Chinese] haue but eight points vnto their Compasse. 1720De Foe Capt. Singleton vi. (1840) 103 They bent their course one point of the compass..to the southward of the east. 1798Millar in Nicolas Disp. Nelson (1846) VII. p. cliv, The leading Ship to steer one point more to starboard. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. xiv. (1858) 463 The Latin Church..regardless of all points of the compass, has adopted for its Altar the Holy Tomb itself. 1885Law Times Rep. LIII. 54/1 Lights..were seen from four to five points on the port bow of the J. M. Stevens.
IV.
10. a. The salient feature of a story, discourse, epigram, joke, etc.; that which gives it application; effective or telling part. Also, A witty or ingenious turn of thought.
1694J. Savage tr. C. de St. Evremont in T. Brown Misc. Ess. M. de St. Evremont II. ii. 96 Points, Antithesis's and Paradoxes. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 254 All arm'd with points, antitheses and puns. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xi, The young ladies might have rather missed the point and cream of the jest. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 An inscription..in which the moral was better than the point. 1871Blackie Four Phases i. 29 So as to be able to turn the point of an argument. 1876World V. No. 106. 3 Full of capital points, blunted in delivery. 1891Ld. Coleridge in Law Times Rep. LXV. 581/1 He has somewhat misapprehended the point of those observations. Mod. He did not see the point of the joke.
b. That quality in speech or writing which arrests attention; appealing, convincing, or penetrating quality; pungency, effect, value.
a1643W. Cartwright On Fletcher Comedies, etc. (1651) 8 All point! all edge! all sharpness! 1675Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Ess. Poetry 114 'Tis epigram, 'tis point, 'tis what you will, But not an elegy. 1791Boswell Johnson (1816) I. Introd. 10 Anything..which my illustrious friend thought it worth his while to express, with any degree of point. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. II. viii. 135 A stanza, which has the point of an epigram with all the softness of a gentle truth. 1901H. James Sacred Fount 17 Having a reputation for ‘point’ to keep up, she was always under arms.
c. Theatr. A gesture, vocal inflection, or some other piece of theatrical technique used to underline a climactic moment in a speech, rôle, or situation; a moment so underlined. Usu. used with the implication that the integrity of the performance as a whole is being subordinated to the desire for immediate applause. Also fig.
1822C. Mathews Let. 4 Oct. in A. Mathews Mem. Charles Mathews (1839) III. 314, I don't know an instance of a point failing which I considered to be really good myself. 1864[see gravy 2 c]. 1870O. Logan Before Footlights & Behind Scenes 135, I began to practice the effects, the stage walks, the managing of the voice, the general bearing of the person, the making of ‘points’, the attaining of ‘climax’. 1897G. B. Shaw Our Theatres in Nineties (1932) III. 124 It lends itself to people talking at each other rhetorically from opposite sides of the stage, taking long sweeping walks up to their ‘points’. Ibid. 132 He succumbed to the temptation to utter the two or three most fatuously conceited of Helmer's utterances as ‘points’. 1900T. E. Pemberton Kendals ix. 259 So natural is she at all times that she never seems to be ‘making points’ after the crude fashion of inferior actresses. 1916J. R. Towse Sixty Years of Theater 29 Woe to the unfortunate actor who was not on his appointed spot and instant in his speech when he was a factor in one of Macready's laboriously calculated ‘points’. 1952Granville Dict. Theatrical Terms 139 A player who is not capable of ‘making his points’ (i.e. stressing his lines at the right time) will never get over.
V.
11. a. Cricket. The position of the fieldsman who is stationed more or less in a line with the popping-crease, a short distance on the off-side of the batsman (orig. close to the point of the bat); also transf. the fieldsman himself.
1816W. Lambert Cricketer's Guide (ed. 6) 41 The Fieldsmen... The Point. The person who stands at the Point should place himself in a line with the popping crease, about seven yards from the striker. 1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 41 The point of the bat... The young fieldsman who is appointed to this situation, should possess a quick eye... For the position of body in the point, I can do no better than refer him to instructions..given to the wicket-keeper. Ibid. 42 The point all the while must keep his face towards the batter, and his arms and hands in their proper position. 1849Laws of Cricket in ‘Bat’ Crick. Man. (1850) 57 No substitute..shall be allowed to..stand at the point, cover the point, or stop behind. 1850Ibid. 43 The Point requires a fieldsman with a very quick eye... The distance at which he stands from the point of the bat, varies from five to seven yards. 1851Lillywhite Guide Cricketers 68 Templar..has succeeded to his [brother's] place as point. 1870Seeley Lect. & Ess. 165 What can be more serious than a game of Cricket?.. Point does not chat with cover-point. 1904, etc. [see backward a. 1]. 1916Anzac Book 128 Was it a boundary hit or a catch at point? 1951People 3 June 8/7 When he was out—to a brilliant catch by Ken Graveney at point—the bowling had been tamed.
b. In Lacrosse, The position of the player who stands a short distance in front of the goal-keeper, or the player himself.
c. In Baseball, The positions occupied by the pitcher and catcher.
1868Chambers's Encycl. X. 597/1 In the arrangement of the men on each side, the goal-keeper defends the goal; point is the first man out from the goal; cover-point is a little in advance of point. 187.Boy's own Bk., La Crosse, There is a goal-keeper; a point, placed twenty yards a-head of the goal-keeper; and a coverpoint. 1935Encycl. Sports 379/1 ‘Point’ takes his position immediately in front of goal. 1967Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 May 39/9 Actually, the goaltender led a charmed life. Most of the danger was involved with the fellow who played between point and cover-point. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 588/2 The ten-a-side team consists of a goalkeeper, three defences (known historically as point, cover point, and third man), a left wing defence, [etc.].
C. Noun of action of French or English origin (including some senses of doubtful origination).
†1. A feat; esp. a feat of arms, a deed of valour, an exploit; also, an encounter, skirmish. [OF. pointe.] points of war: warlike exercises. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce ix. 631 This wes a richt fair poynt, perfay! c1400Destr. Troy 540 And puttes you to perell in pointis of armes. c1450Merlin 345 For that the kynge hadde slain oon of his nevewes at a poynt, that hadde be by-fore the town. 1513Douglas æneis iii. iv. 138 With oile anoynt, Nakit worsling and strougling at nyse poynt. 1580Sidney Ps. xviii. ix, He me warr points did show, Strengthning mine arms, that I could break an iron bow. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 696 Besides he could doo manie other poynts, The which in Court him served to good stead. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. vi. 945 Seeing him practise his lofty pointes, as his crospoynt and his backcaper.
†2. A hostile charge or accusation. Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 7900 The triet men of Troy traitur hym cald, And mony pointtes on hym put for his pure shame. Ibid. 11751 Er any troiens with truthe might telle suche a fawte, Or soche a point on me put in perlament her aftur. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlii. (1482) 277 To ansuere to all maner poyntes that the kyng and his counceyll wold put vpon hym.
†3. Trial, examination: in phr. put to point. Obs.
1469in Archæologia XV. 168 That the money..be newe molton and reforged..till it be putte to poynt. 1583Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 611 To have thair maters callit and put to poynt in ordour. 1584Ibid. 687 Quhill the samin be decydit or utherwise put to point.
4. Falconry. Of a hawk: The action of rising vertically in the air; esp. in phr. to make (her) point. [F. la pointe de l'oiseau.]
1651N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. ii. xxvii. (1739) 125 Like the Eagle they make many points before they stoop to their Prey. 1828J. S. Sebright Observ. Hawking 23 The hawk will make his point—that is, rise perpendicularly in the air over the spot where the bird got into cover. 1852R. F. Burton Falconry in Valley of Indus iii. 29 The Shikrah..‘makes her point’ and takes her stand on some neighbouring tree or eminence. 1883Salvin & Brodrick Falconry in Brit. Isles Gloss. 152 To make its point, the mode a Hawk has of rising in the air, by which the place is marked where the quarry has ‘put in.’
5. A direct forward advance, a charge. [F. faire pointe to make a charge.]
1755J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 27 It seems they had all in turn made a dead point at this young earl, though unsuccessfully. 1768Woman of Honor III. 239 Just in my way as I was making my point for Lancashire.
6. Of a pointer or setter: The act of pointing; the rigid attitude assumed on finding game, with the head and gaze directed towards it. Usually in phrases to make, come to a point. Also fig.
1771Mackenzie Man Feel. Introd. 3, My dog had made a point on a piece of lee-ground. 1892Field 7 May 695/1 Raffle made two good points on birds. 1903Blackw. Mag. Oct. 510/2 The method of approaching the point is explained. Mod. A dog that comes to a point well.
7. The act of pointing: in the humorous phrase bread or potatoes and point, the action of merely pointing or looking at the relish, such as cheese, bacon, fish, etc., and making one's meal of bread or potatoes only. (dial.)
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. x. (1871) 195 The victual Potatoes-and-Point not appearing, at least not with specific accuracy of description, in any European Cookery-Book whatever. 1897Ch. Times 15 Oct., A poor family, who could not afford to eat meat, and who, we will say, dine on potatoes, would..be commonly said to have for dinner potatoes and point.
8. An indication; a hint, suggestion, direction.
1882B. Harte Flip iv, One of these officials comes up to this..ranch..to get points about diamond-making. 1886Halford's Adviser 20 Jan., There are friends who honestly and in all good faith give a ‘point’ as to buying this or that Stock. 1892Nation (N.Y.) 6 Oct. 263/2 A clever young man easily makes the mistake of supposing that he could have given Solomon points about women.
9. Arch. Amount or degree of pointedness: in phrase of the third (or fourth) point, rendering It. di terzo (or quarto) acuto.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 8 Arches of the 3d. and 4th. Point..So our English Authors call 'em, but the Tuscan Authors calls them di terzo, and di quarto acuto, because they always concur in an acute Angle at the Top. 1842–76Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Tierce point, the vertex of an equilateral triangle. Arches or vaults of the third point, which are called by the Italians di terzo acuto, are such as consist of two arcs of a circle intersecting at the top.
D. Phrases and Combinations (chiefly from A.).
* With prepositions.
1. at point. [= F. à point.]
†a. Aptly, fitly, properly, suitably, conveniently. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce iii. 702 For wynd at poynt blawand thai had. Ibid. vi. 406 He wes arayit at poynt clenly, Outakyn that his hede wes bair. Ibid. x. 283 He wes..Curtas at poynt, and debonar And of richt sekir contenyng. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 113 Ane gude knycht..suld sett all his study till arm him at poynt, and hors him. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 25 The fame wherof so wandred it at point [L. ea fama vagatur].
†b. (Also at a point.) In readiness, prepared.
1605Shakes. Lear i. iv. 347 Tis politic and safe to let him keep At point a hundred knights. 1611Florio s.v. Punto, Essere in punto, to be in a readinesse, to be at a point.
c. at point to, at the point to (with inf.): ready to, on the point of, just about to. Cf. at the point of (see f.); on or upon the point of (see 5). arch.
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 17 Whan they were at the poynt to haue passed ouer the seconde flode called Jordayn. 1564Haward Eutropius ii. 15 Pyrrhus was at the poynte to have fled. a1600Montgomerie Sonn. lii. 12 My hairt..At poynt to speid, or quikly to despair. 1605Shakes. Lear iii. i. 33 Who already..are at point To show their open banner. 1611Bible Gen. xxv. 32, I am at the point to die. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 195 Being at the poynt to leaue this world. 1870Morris Earthly Par. III. 228 He seemed at point his whole desire to gain.
†d. at a point: agreed; settled, decided, determined, resolved. See A. 31. Obs.
1477Paston Lett. III. 169 Ye promysyd me, that ye wold never breke the mater to Margrery unto suche tyme as ye and I were at a point. 1513More Rich. III (1883) 60 Yet was [he] at a pointe in his owne mynde, toke she it wel or otherwise. 1555in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1562/1, I..was at poynt with my selfe, that I woulde not flye. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 189 Is he at a poynte with his creditors? 1660Bunyan in Life (1870) 97 When they saw that I was at a point, and would not be moved nor persuaded. 1738Neal Hist. Purit. IV. 85 His Highness [Cromwell] was at a point, and obliged them to deliver up the island of Polerone in the East Indies.
e. at all points: in every part, in every particular or respect. (Usually with armed.) (Cf. a.)
c1350Will. Palerne 3332 Wel armed ȝe arn at alle maner poyntes. c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 607 Armyd at all poyntes, for a day ys sette. 1470–85Malory Arthur iv. viii. 129 A good knyght that was redy to doo bataill at all poyntes. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 200 Arm'd at all points exactly, Cap a Pe. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. Pref. 39 They were armed at all points. 1894G. Armatage Horse ii. 13 Easily beaten at all points by an English horse of second-rate powers.
f. at the point of, on the very verge of, just about to do something. † at the point of day [F. au point de jour], at daybreak (obs.). (See also c.)
c1450Merlin 585 Be redy at the poynte of day for to ride. 1484Caxton Fables of Poge vi, Whanne he was atte thartycle and at the poynt of dethe he wold make his testament. 1604E. G[rimstone] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxiv. 396 This should be eaten at the point of day. 1696Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 74 The lord Berkley was at the point of sayling. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 285 A rich man who was at the point of death. 1897Hall Caine Christian iii. ix, I..told him they were at the point of going.
g. at this (or that) point in time: at this (or that) particular moment (cf. moment n. 1 c).
1974R. B. Parker Godwulf Manuscript viii. 68 You don't understand the situation..at this point in time. 1975Atlantic Monthly Jan. 32/2 The phrase ‘at that point in time’..quickly became an early trademark of the whole Watergate affair. 1975G. V. Higgins City on Hill iii. 89 ‘At that point in time I came away with the impression’ that she was the best thing in the world. 1977Irish Times 8 June 12/2 At this point in time the private rented sector of the housing market was shrinking.
†2. by point of. By virtue or force of. rare—1.
1472–3Rolls of Parlt. VI. 156/2 Governours afore rehersed, or other entitled by poynt of Chartour.
3. from point to point. From one point or detail to another, in every particular, in detail. Obs. or arch. [OF. de point en point.]
1390Gower Conf. III. 333 Fro point to point al sche him tolde, That sche hath longe in herte holde. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 43 And than thei..tolde it hym from point to point. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 8 It standeth me upon to answere from point to point, to the reasons which you have brought. 1653H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. x. 31 Then I recounted to him from point to point how I was cast away. 1813Scott Rokeby i. xv, From point to point I frankly tell The deed of death as it befell.
4. in point [OF. en point].
†a. In proper condition, in order. Obs.
1481Caxton Godeffroy cxxxi. 145 They toke counseyl..and made theyr shippes to be in poynt and redy. 1490― Eneydos vii. 30 They dyd doo repayre theyr nauyre, & sette it..alle in poynte, wyth alle thynges to theym necessarye.
†b. At once, on the instant. Obs. rare—1.
1699R. L'Estrange Erasm. Colloq. (1725) 247 To cut off his Head if he had not done it in point.
c. Her. (a) Said of two piles borne in a shield so as to meet at their points. (b) point in point: a bearing (sense B. 3 c) issuing from the base, resembling a pile reversed, but with concavely curved sides; reckoned a mark of dishonour.
1562Leigh Armorie 124 He beareth a pointe in pointe, Or, in a fielde Sable. This is for them yt are slowthfull in warres. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., He beareth two Piles in Point.
d. predicatively. (Cf. F. à point = à propos.) Apposite; appropriate.
1658–9Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 254 Some play or other is in point. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 274 They are in point to the present subject. 1796Mrs. J. West Gossip's Story I. 198 Not recollecting any similitude in point. 1885Sir N. Lindley in Law Rep. 30 Ch. Div. 14 The case of Stokes v. Trumper is not really in point. 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iii. 340, I recall another humble incident somewhat in point.
e. in point of: in the matter of; with reference or respect to; as regards. in point of fact: see also fact n. 6 b. (From A. 5.)
1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iii. §3 States were too busy with their laws and too negligent in point of education. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. iii. (1674) 4 France may vie and weigh even with Greece it self, in point of Learning. 1656H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 2 Much might be said to this in point of law. 1777A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 515 He agrees with me in point of the enemy's numbers. 1812View State Parties in U.S. (ed. 2) 32 In point of date, the two events correspond with a singular exactness. 1887Sir E. Fry in Law Times Rep. LVIII. 163/2 The evidence..amply justifies the verdict and judgment in point of fact, if they can be justified in point of law.
† f. in point to (of): in a position ready to, on the point of; in immediate peril or danger of. Cf. at the point (1 c, f), on the point (5). Obs.
c1325Poem Times Edw. II 432 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 343 That al Engelond i-wis was in point to spille. a1350Cursor M. 4760 (Gött.) Iacob and his sonis ware wid hunger in point to for-fare. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 57 He..was in poynt to drowne, and Criste tuke him by þe hand. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 87 [He] put all the lave in poynt of perdicioun. 1479Presentm. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1888) 28 The crosse in the merkythe place, that it is in pounte to fall. 1513Douglas æneis iv. xi. 55 Dido standis redy to cum in point to de. 1572–3Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 189 Quhairof he hes lyne continewalie bedfast sensyne, and in poynt and dangeare of his lyff. 1641W. Hakewill Libertie of Subject 90 The people were in point to rebell had not the king stayed the proceedings.
5. on or upon the point of († to). [F. sur le point de.] On the very verge of; usually in reference to action, Just about to, just going to do something (now with vbl. n. or n. of action, formerly also with inf.). Formerly also in reference to a specified time or a number: Very near, close upon.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 55/52 A churche..Þat ope þe poynte was to falle a-doun. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 1457 Þe brutons were vpe þe pointe to fle. 1525St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 320 The gales [= galleys]..ar not yet departed, but upon the pointe of departing; tarying for wynde and weder. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 32 b, He had askryed a nomber of horsemen..vppon the poynct of syx thowsand. 1607Middleton Your Five Gallants ii. iii. 247 Tai. What's a' clock?..Gol...'Tis upon the point of three. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. II. 10, I was upon the point of sending my footman to you. 1670Cotton Espernon i. ii. 100 When he was upon the point to fall upon the City, and Castle of Clisson. 1712Budgell Spect. No. 307 ⁋12 He..was upon the Point of being dismissed. 1771T. Hull Sir W. Harrington (1797) I. 75 Such a father!..upon the point to die! 1867H. Macmillan Bible Teach. ii. 31 Everything seemed on the point of moving.
6. to point.
†a. Into proper condition; to rights. [F. à point.] Obs.
1481Caxton Myrr. i. xii. 37 So in lyke wyse trauaylleth Phisyque to brynge Nature to poynt, that disnatureth in mannes body whan ony maladye or sekenes encombreth hit.
b. To the smallest detail; exactly, completely. arch. (Cf. at point, at all points, 1 a, e.)
1590Spenser F.Q. i. i. 16 Seeing one in mayle, Armed to point. 1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 194 Hast thou, Spirit, Performd to point, the Tempest that I bad thee? a1625Fletcher Chances i. iv, Duke. Are ye all fit? 1 Gent. To point, sir. 1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap iii. 282 All things thus happily performed to point.
c. to the point (of speech or writing, or transf. of the speaker or writer): Apposite, apt, pertinent. (Cf. A. 28.)
1817Jas. Mill Brit. India III. i. 34 Show, that..the evidence which you call for is evidence to the point. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 111 He makes a long speech not much to the point. 1892Law Times XCII. 146/2 The notes are short and to the point.
7. upon point.
†a. On peril, on penalty. Obs.
1642W. Bird Mag. Honor 40 The Clerks of the Chancery..shall not leave out or make omission of the said Additions..upon point to be punished.
†b. As a matter of fact, in reality. Obs.
1642Rogers Naaman To Rdr. §2 In this sense it is (upon point) no other then the old Adam. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) II. 15 Diligence..and Faithfulness..is all that is upon point required of him.
c. upon the point of: see 5.
** With other ns.
†8. point and blank (points and blank): = point-blank. Obs. rare.
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 14 b, The Mosquet ranforced and well charged with good powder, would carrie a full bullet poynt and blancke 24 or 30 scores. Ibid. 28 The arrowes doo not onelie wound, and sometimes kill in their points and blank, but also in their discents and fall.
9. point of honour [F. point d'honneur]. A matter regarded as vitally affecting one's honour. Hence, the obligation to demand satisfaction (esp. by a duel) for a wrong or an insult.
1612E. Grimstone tr. Turquet's Gen. Hist. Spain xxvii. 971 margin, Moderne combats and the Maximes of the point of honour at this day. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 52 Points of honour make them run into the Field..in such sort, as that the greatest part of the Nobility unhappily falls in Duels. 1703Rules of Civility 233 When we say a Point of Honour, we mean a Rule, a Law, and a Maxim of Honour. 1711Addison Spect. No. 99 ⁋2 The great Point of Honour in Men is Courage, and in Women Chastity. 1782Cowper Conversation 163 The Point of Honour has been deemed of use, To teach good manners, and to curb abuse. 1850Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) II. xiii. 91 To obey the call of the commonwealth was the point of honour with the Roman statesman.
10. point of horse (Mining): see horse n. 11.
1882Ogilvie (Annandale), Point of horse,..the spot where a vein, as of ore, is divided by a mass of rock into one or more branches.
11. point-to-point, a.
a. (Made, reckoned, etc.) from one point or place to another in a direct line: chiefly of a cross-country race; hence ellipt. as n. a cross-country race, a steeple-chase. See A. 20 c. Also, from one point to another in turn (not necessarily in a direct line). Hence point-to-pointer, point-to-pointing.
1883E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 236 The winner of the Quenby point-to-point chase. 1895Baily's Mag. May 333/1 The so-called ‘point-to-point’ steeplechase—i.e., the original form of the sport. 1900Pall Mall G. 18 Apr. 3 Major—conducted the point to point meetings. 1920Isis 10 Mar. 2/2 No one..would go to a Point-to-point without a hat. 1930Telegr. & Teleph. Jrnl. XVI. 110/2 The State wireless services only undertake ‘Ship-to-shore’..and ‘Point-to-point’ internal traffic. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 30 Mar. 3/2 The running of the Maryland Hunt Cup Point-to-Point. 1945Salt 10 Sept. 10 The point-to-point voyages of air transport. 1952F. A. Brown Sport from Within v. 163 Why not do the job properly and buy a racehorse instead of a point-to-pointer? Ibid. 177 It might be as well to confine hunters to Point-to-Pointing for the future, instead of encouraging race⁓horses to masquerade as hunters at race meetings. 1957Practical Wireless XXXIII. 520/1 The arrangement and layout of main components is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, which also show partial point-to-point wiring. 1960Times 12 Mar. 9/7 One of the great criticisms of point-to-pointing is the ‘readying’ of some of the horses. 1962Listener 12 July 62/3 This instrument [sc . the electron microprobe] can provide information about the composition of, say, a copper-zinc alloy by point-to-point exploration of tiny areas one-thousandth of a millimetre square. 1964A. Wykes Gambling viii. 187 Hunting's most direct descendant is a form of horse racing called ‘point-to-point’. 1967M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World iv. 117 These pores..make it possible for charged ions to carry a current over a comparatively easy point-to-point route through it [sc. the insulator]. 1970M. Williams Continuing Story of Point-to-Point Racing xxiii. 146 The champion point-to-pointer of the 1964 season was Mr. W. J. A. Shepherd's Straight Lady. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 496/2 The major event of the point-to-point season is the Player's Gold Leaf Championship. 1976Horse & Hound 3 Dec. 55/2 She got much pleasure and fun out of owning some useful point-to-pointers, in particular her good horse Brough. 1979Guardian 31 Aug. 10/1 BMW..decided to sponsor point-to-points. Ibid., The point-to-pointer interviewed thought it all very subtle.
b. Direct, straight, categorical.
1905Daily Chron. 15 July 4/3 Random assertions are at once challenged and point-to-point question and answer are sometimes insisted upon.
c. In every particular or respect.
1934C. Lambert Music Ho! v. 326 A book that..has purposely avoided a point-to-point analysis of individual works. 1949R. K. Merton Social Theory & Social Structure xiv. 330 Discussions of the why and wherefore of science bore a point-to-point correlation with the Puritan teachings. 1958Listener 27 Nov. 885/3 Changes of shape in the retinal image will necessarily be reproduced in the occipital lobe of the brain since there is a point-to-point correspondence between them.
12. point of view [F. point de vue]: the position from which anything is viewed or seen, or from which a picture is taken; also, the position or aspect in which anything is seen or regarded. lit. and fig. Also attrib.
1727–41Chambers Cycl., Point of view, with regard to building, painting, etc., is a point at a certain distance from a building, or other object, wherein the eye has the most advantageous view or prospect of the same. 1760Sterne Sermons II. xi. 112 Look at a man in one light{ddd}behold him in another point of view. 1793Burke Remarks on Policy of Allies in Three Memorials on French Affairs (1797) 193 It is not the point of view in which we are in the habit of viewing guilt. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 143 That he has seen the disputed subject in the same point of view. 1844Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1860) II. 114 In a literary point of view, they are beneath criticism. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 2 Every generation..demands that the history of its forefathers be rewritten from its own point of view. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxvi. 367 From no single point of view..can all the Dirt-Bands of the Mer de Glace be seen at once. 1893Bookman June 85/1 From the world's point of view his unpopularity was richly deserved. 1905S. L. Whitcomb Study of a Novel iii. 66 The narrator takes some general point of view for the entire action, and specific points of view for every part of it, in reference to time, place,..etc. The unity of a passage or a plot depends largely on the clearness and stability of this position. 1909H. James Wings of Dove I. p. xvi, There is no economy of treatment without an adopted, a related point of view, and though I understand, under certain degrees of pressure, a represented community of vision between several parties to the action when it makes for concentration, I understand no breaking-up of the register, no sacrifice of the recording consistency, that doesn't rather scatter and weaken. 1921P. Lubbock Craft of Fiction xvii. 251 The whole intricate question of method, in the craft of fiction, I take to be governed by the question of the point of view—the question of the relation in which the narrator stands to the story. 1927E. M. Forster Aspects of Novel iv. 109 The problem of a point of view..is peculiar to the novel. 1948M. Schorer in Hudson Review I. 69 Let it [sc. technique in fiction] be thought of in two respects particularly: the uses to which language, as language, is put to express the quality of the experience in question; and the uses of point of view not only as a mode of dramatic delimitation, but more particularly, of thematic definition. 1958N. & Q. CCIII. 85/2 The experimentation with dramatic forms in The Blithedale Romance is clearly a prefiguration of the point-of-view technique. Eschewing the novelist's omniscience, Hawthorne had his narrator cloud in vague terms the nature of Moodie's early crime. 1961W. J. Harvey Art of George Eliot i. 14 His [sc. Henry James's] insistence on dramatic representation, point of view, elimination of the author..has undergone a subtle critical change into something like dogma. 1973R. Fowler Dict. Mod. Critical Terms 149 Some contemporary experimental novelists..transcend the issue altogether by abrupt and unsignposted shifts from one point of view to another. 1976Amer. Speech 1974 XLIX. 232 Stephen Hero is written from a heavily omniscient point of view.
13. point of order. In a debate, meeting, etc., an objection or query respecting procedure.
a1751,1781[see order n. 18]. 1885Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 312/1 A member may speak once only to any question, except to explain, or upon a point of order, [etc.]. 1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman iii. 75 The anarchist (rising) A point of order, Mendoza—. Mendoza (forcibly) No, by thunder: your last point of order took half an hour. 1952Oxf. Jun. Encycl. X. 194/1 If a member wishes to raise a ‘point of order’, that is, to suggest that a rule of debate is being broken, he must remain seated and put on a hat to call the attention of the Speaker. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 68/1 If the point of order is overruled by the presiding officer, the speaker resumes the floor.
14. point of departure. fig. The starting point of a thought or action; the initial assumption, procedure, etc., which is developed. Also (with hyphens) attrib.
1857Dickens Dorrit ii. xiii. 438 In the relief of having this companion, and of feeling that he could trust him, he passed on to both [subjects], and both brought him round again..to his point of departure. 1876[see departure 5]. 1927R. H. Wilenski Mod. Movement in Art 31 The French romantics of the early nineteenth century made the romantic elements in his art their point of departure. 1959J. Kirkup tr. S. de Beauvoir's Memoirs of Dutiful Daughter (1963) iii. 218 He looked upon marriage as a solution and not as a point of departure. 1961Listener 17 Aug. 257/1 Schönberg began as an heir to Wagner. His point of departure was the intense chromaticism of Tristan and Parsifal. 1962Amer. Speech XXXVII. 216 Every grammarian analyzes, using his own language as a point of departure. 1965Language XLI. 189 The original point-of-departure vocabulary. 1976Early Music Oct. 469/1 Seebass's point of departure is the tonary contained in the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fonds lat. 1118 from the mid-11th century.
15. point of no return. (See quot. 1941.) Freq. transf. and fig.
1941Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLV. 306 This three-engined operation data is used to determine our so-called ‘Point of No Return’. Laymen are inevitably intrigued by this fatalistic expression. As a matter of fact it is merely a designation of that limit-point, before which any engine failure requires an immediate turn around and return to the point of departure, and beyond which such return is no longer practical. 1946E. Hodgins Mr Blandings x. 141 It would be delightful..to..die of old age in a rented apartment... But..he had reached and passed the crucial mark known, in the poetic language of the air navigator, as the Point of No Return. 1948‘N. Shute’ No Highway iv. 98 They passed the point of no return, and as a routine matter the navigator reported to him. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove 281 You were admitting to one another, weren't you, your secret knowledge that you—hadn't reached, together, the—the point of no return? 1956Jrnl. Educ. July 312 But now he stopped [stealing] long enough to write a book (this is usually the point of no return) about his approved school, Borstal and prison experiences. 1958Times 9 Jan. 10/3 When we were on the way to the Pole we received a request from Dr. Fuchs to establish a further depôt, but we were 240 miles from the Pole, and beyond the point of no return. 1960J. Lehmann I am my Brother vii. 314, I finally decided that Leonard and I had reached a point of no return: if our partnership remained the same..not only would the Hogarth Press come to a standstill, but my own career would finally be frustrated. 1966D. Varaday Gara-Yaka's Domain ix. 105 To my consternation I realised that I had let the matter run to the ‘point of no return’. For me to refuse to go on now would..hurt his feelings. 1970Times 7 May 12/7 Forbes.. says all the A.B.P. films have a financial ‘point of no return’. 1977Oxford Diocesan Mag. Oct. 20/3 Scholars may well ‘have passed the point of no return’ in this matter.
16. point-of-lay, a. The stage of a hen's life-cycle at which it is able to begin laying eggs. Chiefly attrib.
1950Starting Poultry Keeping (Poultry World) (ed. 8) 108 (Advt.), One of the largest suppliers of laying and point-of-lay pullets..in England. 1953L. Robinson Mod. Poultry Husbandry (ed. 3) xxi. 612 During both the autumn and spring the early hatches produced birds of heavier weights at point of lay. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 147/3 Losses to point-of-lay have averaged only 2½ per cent. Ibid., This system of rearing..enables him to offer a point-of-lay pullet at a really economical price. 1964J. Portsmouth Practical Poultry Keeping (ed. 6) iii. 44 As a pullet approaches the point of lay stage its body undergoes great changes. 1975A. C. Stewart Dark Dove vi. 41 Rhode Island Red pullets, six, point-of-lay—thirty-five shillings. 1977D. Kay Poultry Keeping for Beginners v. 70 At the age of 20 weeks..the pullet becomes a point of lay bird.
17. point-of-sale. The place at which retail transactions are made. Chiefly attrib.
1953D. Riesman Individualism Reconsidered (1955) 222 Using the retail store as the point-of-sale as in the Supermarket. 1959Design Sept. 49/1 The coin operated food vending machine is required to carry its own point-of-sale appeal. 1960Times 28 Sept. (Advt. Suppl.) p. ii/5 Posters and point-of-sale displays. 1962H. E. Beecheno Introd. Bus. Stud. x. 88 Point-of-sale advertising consists of using special display material in shop windows. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 68/1 Early point-of-sale displays consisted of stock designs (that is, the brand name of the product or a picture of the product or the factory) on strawboard placed in shop windows and on stands and counters. 1978Bookseller 17 June 3197/3 The time when point-of-sale data was run against a local stock-control system.
*** Attributive uses and Combinations.
18. General Combinations, as point-aglet, point-cleaner, point-current, point-end, point-holder, point-hole (Printing), point-law (law n.3), point-making, point-mark, point-pair, point-pinner, point-rod, point-shape, point-side, point-size, point-strap, point-system, point-triplet; points system; point-eared, point-free, point-leafed, point-tipped adjs. In Phonetics, used to describe a consonant articulated with the point of the tongue, as t, d; also in Comb. as point-element, point-lingual adj., point-open adj. (n.), point-side (as l) adj., point-stop, point-teeth (as þ) adj., point-trill.
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 151 Larrees [Persian coins] fashioned like *point-aglets, and are worth ten pence.
1867*Point consonant [see back a. 1 c]. 1888Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds §11 Point consonants admit of inversion..and protrusion. 1902Point consonant [see fan consonant s.v. fan n.1 11].
1857Dickens Perils Eng. Prisoners iii, in Househ. Words Extra Christmas No., 7 Dec. 30/2 The off-settings and *point-currents of the stream.
1894Gladstone Odes of Horace iii. xix. 4 Goat-footed, *point-eared Satyrs too.
1933O. Jespersen Essentials Eng. Gram. iv. 39 Sometimes the *point-element [of r] remains though without any trill.
1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 335 [He] presses a little gently upon the Tympan just over the *Point-ends of each Point. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 330 A shallow half-moon cut out of the back [of a bowie-knife] at the point end.
1947People 22 June 1/3 Small quantities of biscuits originally intended for the Services are *point-free—if you can get them.
1897Daily News 17 Sept. 7/3 *Point holder, employed by the Midland Railway Company.
1770P. Luckombe Conc. Hist. Printing 500 *Point-holes, holes made by the Points in a worked off sheet of paper. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 658/1 Point holes (Print.), punctures made in the printed sheet by the spurs of the register points.
1602Aberdeen Regr. (1848) II. 229 The said schip sall ly on the *poyntlaw within the herbrie.
1932R. Lehmann Invitation to Waltz i. 5 And there growing up the side of the house..is that kind of thick, bristling, woody, *point-leafed shrub.
1931G. O. Russell Speech & Voice xiv. 133 *Point-lingual fricative consonants.
1889G. B. Shaw London Music in 1888–89 (1937) 129 Signor Novara, who played the part with unexpected success..acting without any senseless posturing and *point-making. 1900Daily Chron. 4 Dec. 3/3 The book depends for effect rather upon its natural, facile ‘talkativeness’ than upon any sort of conscious pointmaking. 1902Ibid. 23 May 6/5 Dialogue sure to evoke laughter when delivered by such experts in point-making. 1975New Yorker 28 Apr. 124/2 The cut between the two scenes is not a piece of easy point⁓making.
1897Archæologia Ser. ii. V. 402 A complete circle, with the *point-mark of the compass in the middle.
1877H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics ii. 37, rh, r (*point-open). 1927J. J. Hogan Eng. Lang. in Ireland 29 Point-open and stops: thedynge ‘tiding,’ onther ‘under,’ tanked ‘thanked’. 1934― Outl. Eng. Philol. i. i. 8 English has two Point-Opens, þ as in think, ð as in then.
1858Cayley Coll. Math. Papers II. 563 [The] equation..represents..a system of m points, or point-system of the order m... When m = 1 we have of course a single point, when m = 2 we have a quadric or *point-pair, when m = 3 a cubic or point-triplet, and so on. 1877― in Encycl. Brit. VI. 727/1, 2 µ-ν point-pairs (that is, conics, each of them a pair of points).
1808E. Sleath Bristol Heiress II. 34 She is as vain of the..breadth and texture of her *point-pinners as of her coronet.
1889G. Findlay Eng. Railway 75 ‘*Point-rod Compensator’, which automatically compensates for the expansion or contraction from heat or cold of the rods which actuate the points.
1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1911/4 Mantua's, Petticoats, *Point shapes, etc.
1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning (ed. 2) 199 There is in every card what is called the *point side and the smooth side, the former being the side towards which the wires point. 1901N.E.D. s.v. L, The ‘point-side’ consonant admits of considerable diversity in mode of articulation and consequently in acoustic quality.
1931A. Esdaile Student's Man. Bibliogr. 143 Easily available to English printers,..are the following types, which can, of course, be had in different normal *point-sizes and with their own italic. 1973S. Jennett Making of Books (ed. 5) ii. 41 These two lines appear to be set in two quite different sizes of type, yet they are both in the same point size and a dozen lines of either would occupy exactly the same depth of space.
1899W. Rippmann tr. Vietor's Elements of Phonetics 142/1 *Point stops, etc. = dental stops, etc. 1934J. J. Hogan Outl. Eng. Philol. i. i. 6 The English Point Stops, t, d, n.
1963E. H. Edwards Saddlery xv. 111 An additional girth known as a ‘*point strap’ and fixed under the point itself, which allows the girth to be fastened to this strap and..will place the girth much farther forward and help to keep it and the saddle in place.
1888*Point system [see pointsman 2]. 1931A. Esdaile Student's Man. Bibliogr. iv. 131 Simon Pierre Fournier,..best known by..being the first author of the Continental point-system of measuring types. 1941New Statesman 26 Apr. 430/1 The ‘point system’ is based on the allocation of so many points per head and if you squander them on caviare instead of on corned beef, it is just too bad for you.
1944Ann. Reg. 1943 40 The *points system was securing an equitable distribution of non⁓perishable foodstuffs. 1953R. J. C. Atkinson Field Archaeol. ii. 50 The point system, a fairly close grid of pegs is laid out to divide the site into squares. On one side of each peg a small pit is dug. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XI. 533/1 Under the point system [of rationing], there is obviously greater freedom of choice than under specific rationing.
1964Listener 1 Oct. 505/2 The ‘points system’..determines the amount of money which can be spent for special allowances for teaching staff and other purposes. 1974Guardian 23 Jan. 9/3 Council houses are allocated on a points system.
1888H. Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds (rev. ed.) 5 þ (as in thin) [is] a *point-teeth consonant. 1906H. C. Wyld Hist. Study Mother Tongue ii. 32 th (þ) in ‘think’, made between the Point of the tongue and the Teeth (Point-Teeth-Open).
1952C. L. B. Hubbard Pembrokeshire Corgi Handbk. 2 Erect and *point-tipped ears.
1877H. Sweet Handbk. Phonetics ii. 49, rhr (*point-trill). 1927J. J. Hogan Eng. Lang. in Ireland 75, r. This consonant is everywhere retained [in Irish] as in M.E... A strong point-trill is heard in the South. 1933O. Jespersen Essentials Eng. Gram. iv. 39 Originally r was a full point-trill everywhere.
19. Special Combs.: point-action Gram., applied to an aspect which is not durative; point bar, (a) in the Jacquard apparatus, one of the needles governing the warp-threads, by the motion of which the pattern is produced; (b) Physical Geogr., an alluvial deposit that forms by accretion inside the loop of a river as the loop expands outwards, usu. consisting of low, curved, parallel ridges; point blanket, a Hudson's Bay or Mackinaw blanket with points (sense A. 33) to indicate weight; point block, a high building with flats, offices, etc., built around a central lift or staircase; point-brass (see quot.); point break Surfing, a type of wave characteristic of a coast with a headland; point charge Electr., a charge regarded as concentrated in a mathematical point, without spatial extent; point-circle, a point considered as an infinitely small or evanescent circle; point-constable, a constable on point-duty; point contact, the state of touching at a point only; spec. in Electronics, the contact of a metal point with the surface of a semiconductor so as to form a rectifying junction; freq. attrib.; point-count Bridge, the value of a hand in points; also, any system of allocating points to a hand; hence point-counting vbl. n.; point-counter Physics , an early version of the Geiger counter in which discharges occur between positively-charged chamber walls and a central, earthed, metal point; point defect Cryst., any defect in a crystal structure which involves only one lattice site; point discharge, an electrical discharge in which current flows between an earthed pointed object and the surrounding gas; also attrib.; so point discharger, such an object; point-draughtsman, one who draws with the point, an engraver; point-event, something conceived of as having a definite position in space and time but no extent or duration; point-finder, an instrument for determining the vanishing point in making projections (Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 1884); point focus Physics, a focus (of a beam of light or particles, etc.) which is small enough to be considered as a point; Point Four (or IV, 4) U.S. Pol., the fourth point of President Harry S. Truman's Fair Deal programme (Fair Deal) which made provision for technical aid to underdeveloped countries; freq. attrib.; point ground, in lace-making, a type of réseau ground; also attrib.; point-handle, the lever by which a point or railway switch is moved; point-head, a head-dress of point-lace (see head n.1 5); point-instant, the minimal unit of space-time; a mere position in space-time; point-iron (cf. point-brass); point-lever = point-handle; point load Engin., a load that acts at a single point; point mass Physics, a mass regarded as concentrated in a mathematical point, without spatial extent; also attrib.; point mutation Genetics, a mutation not distinguishable by recombinational analysis from a point change within a gene; point net, simple point-lace; point number, in a musical, a song which is integral to the action; point paper, pricked paper for making, copying, or transferring designs (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); point-plate (Printing), the adjustable plate carrying the points (B. 4); point-policeman = point-constable; point rationing, a system of rationing whereby goods are priced in terms of points (sense A. 15 b) and a certain number of points are assigned to each consumer; so point-rationed adj.; point resistance Engin., the upward force exerted by soil on the base of a pile; point-screw (Printing), the screw by which the point-plate is fastened down; points food, rationed food available on points only; point shoes, shoes with pointed toes, spec. of a type used by ballet dancers; point-shooting, shooting game from a fixed point; point-shot, point-blank distance (see point-blank); point source, a source (as of light or sound) of negligible dimensions; point-sphere, a point regarded as an infinitesimal sphere; points rationing = point rationing; points value = point value; points victory, a victory won on points; points win = points victory; † point-tag, the aglet of a lace; † point-tagger, a maker of point-tags; point-tool (Turning), a flat tool having the end ground to a point; point-trusser, a valet or page who trussed or tied his master's points; point value, value in terms of rationing points; point-work Ballet, dancing on the points. Also point-duty, point group, point-lace, etc.
1925G. O. Curme College English Gram. ii. 56 The *point-action aspect calls attention, not to an act as a whole, but to only one point, either the beginning or the final point. 1932Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. XXXI. 251 Most scholars recognize in English a durative aspect and a point-action aspect. 1970Language XLVI. 300 It is particularly noteworthy in the latter case that the headline to this news item read ‘Man may not have smelt killer gas’, the -t form co-occurring with an effective or ‘point-action’ aspect. 1977Ibid. LIII. 437 The ungrammaticality of 3d would be accounted for by the fact that arrive, like all (non-iterable) point-action predicates, does not co-occur with duration adverbials like until.
1836Ure Cotton Manuf. II. 350 Projects of bobbins, pushers, lockers, *point-bars, and needles. 1945H. N. Fisk in Geol. Investigation Alluvial Valley of Lower Mississippi River (U.S. Mississippi River Commission) 20 The point bar, the composite accretion within a bend, consists of an alternation of sand bar ridges, capped with thin top⁓stratum, and swales underlain by clay plugs. 1963D. W. & E. E. Humphries tr. Termier's Erosion & Sedimentation v. 110 Alluvial plains appear to be composed chiefly (80–90%) of ‘point bars’. 1974C. H. Crickmay Work of River ii. 25 The land round which a meander winds is termed the tongue, and the tip of the tongue is the point, whence the term point bar. 1976K. W. Butzer Geomorphol. from Earth viii. 157 Point bars, developed as a series of low levees on the inside meander bends, form arcuate or parallel ridges and swales.
1783in E. E. Rich Moose Fort Jrnl. (1954) 152, I have enclosed instructions for your Guidance and the Standard of the *point Blankets I now send you. 1797in Georgia Hist. Soc. Collections (1916) IX. 347, 2 2½ point blankets. 1855J. H. Chambers in Contrib. Montana Hist. Soc. (1940) X. 116 We have..30 prs. 3 pt. blkts 20 Pr W 20 1 Blkt 10 blue blkt 18 Scan & 25 Hudson Bay blkts. 1926Beaver Dec. 22 The earliest reference found in a search of the minutes of the..Hudson's Bay [Co.] to Hudson's Bay ‘Point’ Blankets is one dated 22nd December 1779, where a notation is made of an order for one hundred pairs of each of five sorts of pointed blankets. 1962W. Stegner Wolf Willow ii. v. 67 The somewhat obscure source of the red point blankets that I slept under.
1954Ann Reg. 1953 371 The London County Council's large sites..were of special interest on account of their carefully landscaped mixture of terrace houses, maisonettes, and 11-storey ‘*point-blocks’. 1958Listener 6 Nov. 727/1 Eight-storey point-blocks are contrasted with low, gable-ended, four-storey blocks. 1970New Scientist 5 Mar. 460/1 A series of disasters, or near disasters,..involving a wide range of modern structures from cooling-tower shells to point blocks of flats. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Sept. 988/4 The London skyline today, peppered with point blocks, tower-blocks, and slabs.
c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 138 Point-iron or *brass, a larger sort of plumb, formed conically and terminating in a point, for the more nicely adjusting anything perpendicularly to a given line.
1966Surfabout III. vi. 8/1 The original concept was to have three separate events. A *point break, reef break, and a beach break contest. 1968W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. 21/1 There are four main types of breaks in New Zealand. They are the beach break, the reef break, point break and the river bar break. Ibid. 21/2 The point break wave..is formed when swells move almost at right angles along a peninsula or headland. 1970Studies in English (Univ. of Cape Town) I. 26 A headland, point or pier, bends the wave into a point break, which gives a consistent ride in one direction, often in a perfect tubing shape, so that the surfer slides along the face of the wave with a tube of water continually breaking behind him.
1903S. J. Barrett Electro-Magn. Theory 66 The law of inverse squares..is due to the continuity of the electric displacement.., the flux from a *point-charge being distributed equally in all directions. 1975D. G. Fink Electronics Engineers' Handbk. i. 11 A combination of two point charges of equal magnitude and opposite polarity separated by a distance small compared to that at which the field of the dipole is to be determined is called an electric dipole.
1866Brande & Cox Dict. Sc. II. 946 A *point-circle has the equation x2 + y2 = 0, and a point-sphere the equation x2 + y2 + z2 = 0.
1905Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 8/2 A *point constable is on duty twenty yards away.
1914Proc. Physical Soc. XXVII. 70 The present paper relates..to the conductivity of ‘*point contacts’ when a steady, or slowly varying, E.M.F. is applied. Ibid., The behaviour of a typical point contact (zincite and tellurium). 1945R. K. Allan Rolling Bearings vi. 143 In roller bearings..we..have ‘line contact’ as distinct from the ‘point contact’ of ball bearings. 1947C. F. Edwards in Proc. IRE XXXV. 1181/2 In view of the fact that the crystalline state of the silicon is more nearly like that of iron and copper, which are not ordinarily regarded as crystals,..it seems desirable to eliminate the terms ‘crystal’ and ‘crystal detector’ and designate these devices by the term ‘point-contact rectifier’. 1948Physical Rev. LXXIV. 230/2 When the two point contacts are placed close together on the surface and d.c. bias potentials are applied, there is a mutual influence which makes it possible to use the device to amplify a.c. signals. 1959[see junction transistor s.v. junction n. 4]. 1962Simpson & Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors i. 1 The event that opened this era of ‘solid-state electronics’ was the invention of the point-contact transistor by Bardeen and Brattain in 1948. 1970H. J. Watson Mod. Gear Production ii. 24 Crossed helical gears theoretically make point contact only which, under load sufficient to cause deflection of the contacting surfaces, becomes a line. 1975D. G. Fink Electronic Engineers' Handbk. ix. 61 The point contact is fabricated by a metal whisker forming a rectifying junction in contact with the semiconductor.
1959T. Reese Bridge Player's Dict. 149 The Milton Work *point-count remains the most popular..because of its simplicity and convenience. 1963Times 9 Jan. 12/7 The Souths who were influenced more by their point-count than their distribution. 1979Guardian 5 Sept. 2/6 The Bridge Challenger..run by two micro-processors..bids the point-count system.
1925Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. XXII. 676 The *point counter has also been studied as a unit of an electrical circuit containing capacity and resistance, and an analogy established between its discharges, and the ‘flashing’ of a neon lamp. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) i. 18 When we are concerned with the measurement of a very small flux of radiation,..the sensitivity of the point-counter is often inadequate. 1964J. B. Birks Theory & Practice Scintillation Counting x. 394 The observation of the time relationship between two or more ionizing events, as represented by pulses from radiation detectors, forms the basis of the coincidence method... It was originally introduced..for use with point-counters and Geiger counters.
1963Times 6 Mar. 13/1 The conventional openings, combined with *point-counting, brought greater refinements into bidding. 1973Times 6 Jan. 9/3, I have written on many occasions that no expert relies upon point-counting alone to value his hand.
1960H. G. Van Beuren Imperfections in Crystals ii. 41 *Point defects can be introduced in large numbers into solids by plastic deformation. 1974D. M. Adams Inorg. Solids ix. 292 For many years it seemed that non-stoichiometric systems of wide compositional range could be understood in terms of a parent lattice with a high concentration of randomly distributed point defects.
1886R. Wormell Electricity in Service of Man 49 (heading) *Point discharge. 1927Proc. R. Soc. A. CXV. 443 The important part played by the point-discharge currents in the total exchange of electricity between the earth and the atmosphere. 1938R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) i. 17 Each time an ionizing particle..passes the neighbourhood of the point [of the needle], a point discharge takes place by virtue of ionization by collision. 1973R. H. Golde Lightning Protection ii. 8 Point-discharge currents and the resulting space charges play an important part in the development of the lighting discharge and in the action of a lightning conductor.
1928Proc. R. Soc. A. CXVIII. 255 Wormell..used a single *point-discharger at a height of 8 metres, which is stated to be likely to produce similar effects to those from a small tree. 1965S. C. Coroniti Problems of Atmospheric & Space Electricity iii. 174 (heading) The behavior of trees as point dischargers.
1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest Pref. 7 The four greatest *point-draughtsmen hitherto known, Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli, Dürer, and Holbein.
1920A. S. Eddington Space, Time & Gravit. xii. 186 In the relativity theory of nature, the most elementary concept is the *point-event. In ordinary language a point-event is an instant of time at a point in space. Ibid., The aggregate of all the point-events is called the world. 1928C. E. M. Joad Future of Life 36 Faced with a universe consisting of ephemeral point-events, the mind selects from it certain characteristics which have a particular interest for it. 1948Mind LVII. 298 The idea of a mile or a day is an everyday idea. So are those of above and below, east and west, or before and after. Those of a point, an instant, and still more of a point-event, are relatively sophisticated, and much less used. 1965P. Caws Philos. of Sci. xli. 316 This calls for a solution of the problem of rendering point events (particles interacting and so on) in terms of experiences.
1908L. Laurance Gen. & Pract. Optics xii. 329 Thus, rays in the pencil do not have a *point focus, since there are two focal lines. 1923Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics IV. 213/1 Whilst the geometrical theory claims a perfect point-focus, the undulatory theory merely demonstrates that there is a maximum of intensity at that point. 1966D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. 135 The incident intensity can be increased by using a point-focus X-ray source with the sample close to the source.
1949Manch. Guardian Weekly 27 Oct. 15 The much admired ‘*point four’ also fell by the wayside. 1953A. Huxley Let. 21 June (1969) 675 It [sc. an M.A. in Public Health] would surely be helpful in all manner of fields—e.g. the UN if you wanted to enter it later, or any other of the international agencies, or Point Four. 1955Bull. Atomic Sci. Mar. 98/2 The Point IV program of technical assistance stirred the imagination throughout the undeveloped areas of the world. 1961L. D. Stamp Gloss. Geogr. Terms 466/1 An official definition used to determine countries qualifying for American Point IV aid was national income per capita. 1965H. S. Truman Memoirs II. xvi. 269 The Point Four program was a practical expression of our attitude toward the countries threatened by Communist domination. 1972Times 27 Dec. 5/1 The Point 4 programme inaugurated technical aid to underdeveloped countries.
1832J. R. McCulloch Dict. Commerce 697 About 1777, or 1778, quite a new ground was attempted by the inhabitants of Buckingham and its neighbourhood, which quickly superseded all the others; this was the *point ground, which had (as is supposed) been imported from the Netherlands. 1865F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxx. 361 In 1778, according to M‘Culloch, was introduced the ‘point’ ground, as it is locally termed, from which period dates the staple pillow lace trade of these counties. 1968J. Arnold Shell Book of Country Crafts 305 ‘Buckingham Point’ or ‘Point-ground’ lace was that lace containing Lille or Mechlin elements. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 311 A is a ‘Trolly’..used for the gimp thread—the thick, soft thread which outlines the design in point ground lace.
1899Daily News 1 July 4/5 The *point handles always stop half-way while being moved over.
1702Farquhar Twin Rivals ii. iii, 'Tis conscience I warrant that buys her the *point-heads and diamond necklace! 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbé Conti 31 Oct., She had bought a fine point head.
1920S. Alexander Space, Time, & Deity i. 58 It is assumed that at each *point-instant (the name is due to Mr. Lorentz, Ortzeit) there exists some perceptible ‘substance’. 1959Listener 8 Jan. 57/2 The suggestions he [sc. Samuel Alexander] made about these ‘pervasive features’—for instance, that everything in the world is ultimately composed of complexes of ‘space-time point-instants’—are certainly not such as could be either reached or confirmed by any kind of direct observation.
1899Westm. Gaz. 7 Oct. 8/1 In Edinburgh Station the lines are worked from 565 signal and *point levers.
1941Jrnl. Inst. Civil Engin. XVI. 524 A single load was connected with a much higher ultimate moment, owing to a better stress-distribution and a rapid decrease of the moment, than was obtained with two *point-loads. 1976Attewell & Farmer Princ. Engin. Geol. iv. 193 It is possible to relate the point load strength index to the uniaxial compressive strength.
1955W. Heisenberg in W. Pauli et al. Niels Bohr 17 For Bohm, the particles are ‘objectively real’ structures, like the *point masses of classical mechanics. 1968M. S. Livingston Particle Physics iii. 47 This hypothesis had a built-in ‘irrationality’..in attempting to correlate the divergent concepts of point-mass particles and of wave motion. 1968R. A. Lyttleton Myst. Solar Syst. i. 20 The action of the stars once the collision is over can safely be regarded as pure attraction by point-masses.
1925Genetics X. 117 If one thinks of mutations as being simply inherited changes, it becomes necessary to distinguish changes that involve whole chromosomes.., changes that involve several adjacent genes.., and what have been called ‘*point-mutations’ or ‘gene-mutations’. 1928Jrnl. Genetics XIX. 223 If such parallel forms were due simply to the special action of a single factor, ‘point-mutation’ might afford a reasonable basis of explanation. 1974Goodenough & Levine Genetics v. 195 A mutation that affects only one or a few nucleotides in a chromosome is known as a point mutation. 1977Sci. Amer. Dec. 94/3 Such mutants of influenza virus are considered to be ‘point mutations’ that might affect only one of the nucleotide building blocks of the RNA.
1829Glover's Hist. Derby i. 243 The *point-net machine. 1865F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxxvi. 418 In 1777, Else and Harvey introduced at Nottingham the ‘pin’ or point net machine, so named because made on sharp pins or points. 1953M. Powys Lace & Lace-Making xi. 196 In working point net ground the pin is not enclosed, but after it is placed, two extra twists are given to the pairs which have formed the half stitch.
1937N. Coward Present Indicative iii. 105 There was a sentimental ballad..and a bright ‘*Point’ number. 1958B. Nichols Sweet & Twenties 16, I heard a cabaret artist use the word Hiroshima as a comic gag in a point number. 1960A. Kimmins Lugs O'Leary iii. 35 It was a ‘point’ number, and she was singing it like a ‘pop’. 1960News Chron. 31 Mar. 4/5 ‘Point numbers’..arise directly out of the play's action—often carrying the plot..forward while they are being sung. 1967Stage 2 Mar. 6/2 (Advt.), Glam. Singer: Pop, Ballad, Point Nos.
1899J. W. Mackail Life W. Morris II. xiii. 44 ‘*Point-paper’—paper, that is, divided into minute spaces, each representing a single knot of the carpet. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 658/1 Point paper,..ruled paper upon which the interlacing of the threads in a fabric is shown.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ⁋19 A round Pin filed with a Male-Screw upon it, to..hold the *Point-Plate fast in its Place. 1771Luckombe Hist. Print. 321.
1895Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 7/1 One o'clock in the morning, at which hour the ‘*point’ policeman outside the house goes off duty. 1928Evening News 18 Aug. 6/3 The point policemen at spacious centres like the Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner seem to be waving the wide world around and the exhilaration of moderate speed can be enjoyed. 1939H. Hodge Cab, Sir? 236 People don't realise how dangerous it is for a point-policeman.
1944Times 15 Feb. 2/2 The increase has been due to higher expenditure on unrationed or ‘*point’ rationed foods.
1944A. M. Taylor Lang. World War II 56 *Point Rationing, a rationing method announced by the Office of Price Administration (OPA), establishing a secondary currency of points alongside the dollar currency. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XI. 533/1 Under point rationing, the group may be extended to cover a combination of several different kinds of article.
1943K. Terzaghi Theoret. Soil Mech. viii. 136 One part Qf of the total load on the pile is carried by the skin friction. The balance Qp is transferred onto the soil through the base or the point of the pile and is called the *point resistance. 1972L. Zeevaert Foundation Engin. for Difficult Subsoil Conditions v. 278 The lower part of the piles will work under ultimate point resistance and positive friction.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing x. ⁋10 In the middle of each long Rail of the Tympan, is..an Hole..for the square Shanks of the *Point Screws to fit into.
1941New Statesman 6 Dec. 475 When the retailer sells ‘*points’ food, he can replenish his supplies only by handing over the ‘points’ that he has collected. 1948Hansard Commons 8 Mar. 795 [He] has been given a licence to sell points foods.
1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 218 *Point shoes, the silk or satin shoes, tying up the ankle with ribbon, used by dancers when dancing sur les pointes. Ibid., Point shoes cost about 17s a pair. 1970R. Lowell Notebook 150 My coat limp chestnut-colored suede Cut to match my point shoes that hurt my toes. 1977Times 20 Jan. 8/6 American mothers just want to see their children in point shoes as early as possible.
1874J. W. Long Wild-Fowl Shooting 71 For *point-shooting, shooting from a blind on shore, or in the edge of the willows from a boat, a few hints may be welcome. 1876Fur, Fin & Feather Sept. 90 We prepared to move out into the clear water onto a log, and there get some point shooting.
1747Gentl. Mag. 521/1 She engaged within *point musket shot, every ship of the enemy from rear to van.
1903Nature 1 Jan. 202/2 for a *point source of strength Q, the V it produces is [etc.]. 1949[see angular a. 2 c]. 1971I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth xiii. 178 Contrast this with a deep ocean floor, lacking in relief, and far from any strong point⁓sources of debris.
1866*Point-sphere [see point-circle].
1941New Statesman 6 Dec. 475 ‘*Points’ rationing of canned meat, canned fish etc., from December 1st onwards makes disposal of these goods to ‘black market’ merchants singularly unattractive. 1950Times 20 May 4/1 The ending..of the points rationing system, which has been in operation for more than eight years, was announced by the Minister of Food yesterday.
1947People 22 June 1/3 More ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ in the *points values of food come into force today.
1929Daily Express 7 Nov. 13/2 Jackson's *points victory was about the most easily gained of the night.
1976New Musical Express 12 Feb. 30/3 Theoretically this bout should have provided at least a *points-win decision in favour of Harold Melvin's The Blue Notes. 1976Rhyl Jrnl. & Advertiser 9 Dec. 31/1 One of Rhyl Star Boys Club's most promising boxers, Philip Siddall, gained a classy points win over Peter Williams, of Llay ABC, at Llay last week.
1649Davenant Love & Honour ii. i, Her Fingers I think they are smaller than thy *point tags.
a1652Brome New Acad. ii. i. Wks. 1873 II. 23 Thought'st ha' me like the hair brain'd *Point-tagger.
1594Nashe Unfort. Trav. Induct. Wks. (Grosart) V. 10 This fore-mentioned catalogue of the *point trussers. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. iii, Let me be a point-trusser while I liue if he vnderstands any tongue but English.
1946Mod. Lang. Notes LXI. 443 Prestige value, cash value, *point value. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XI. 533/1 In the case of foodstuffs, the point value may be related to calorie value.
1936S. J. Simon tr. A. Benois in ‘C. Brahms’ Footnotes to Ballet iv. 206 The ‘classical ballet’ in the steel support does endow *point-work with a special brilliance. 1957G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 217 Dancing on the point or ‘point work’ is said to have been practised by the cossacks since time immemorial. Ibid. 218 A danced stage performance need not necessarily include ‘point work’ to be termed ballet. 1975New Yorker 26 May 89/2 Its a question whether ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ can be danced within the limitations of Bolshoi technique, which stresses big jumps at the expense of brilliance in turns and pointwork.
Add:[A.] [III.] [15.] c. A percentage share in the profits of a business or other venture. Chiefly in pl.
1977G. V. Higgins Dreamland x. 123 Sometimes they allowed established lawyers to buy into the [law] firm, selling points, as they are now known, at prices which varied with the times. 1978TV Week (Austral.) 26 Aug. 13, I have points (a share of profits) in Capricorn One. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xxxii. 368 When we go over budget, you start losing your points in the picture. 1986Epstein & Liebman Biz Speak 172 Points (media/publishing), percent of profits in a movie or TV deal.
[D.] [19.] point spread N. Amer. Sport, (a forecast of) the number of points or the margin by which the stronger team is expected to defeat its weaker opponent, used for betting purposes (see *spread n.1 2 j).
1951N.Y. Times 18 Jan. 1/1 Poppe is also alleged to have confessed that he and Byrnes agreed for a fee to do all they could to exceed the *point spread in their team's victories. 1969Z. Hollander Mod. Encycl. Basketball 51 Early in 1951 the rumors of wrongdoing turned into fact. Junius Kellogg, a 6–8 star at Manhattan College, reported that he had been offered $1,000 to control the point spread of a game. 1990Washington Times 26 Mar. c6/2 Out of 32 first-round games, with three rated even by most betting lines, the underdog covered the point spread 14 times.
▸ Ice Hockey. An area just in front of the opposing team's blue line close to each edge of the rink, where players on offence are often positioned, esp. during power plays.
1953Globe & Mail (Toronto) 27 Nov. 24/3 He missed a pass-out from Gord Howe and the puck went to Pronovost on the blue-line point. 1963Hockey Illustr. Dec. 22/2 Kent Douglas shot the puck from the point. 1978Winnipeg Free Press 25 Sept. 53/5 St. Louis got its second goal when Federko deflected Mike Walton's shot from the point with the Blues enjoying a man advantage. 1990R. Olver Making Champions ii. ix. 163 Dimitry Kristich grabs the puck from the neutral zone, moves across the blue line and scores from the point. 2002N.Y. Times 22 Apr. d7 He wasn't the only wing that put the puck out to the point.
▸ on point: relevant, apposite, accurate; ‘spot on’; (also) direct, focused. Cf. Phrases 1f(c) and to the point at Phrases 1l.
1993National (Ottawa, Ont.) Nov.–Dec. 23/1 They should be on the lookout for seminars and publications on point, and make as many contacts in the industry as they can. 1994Vibe Nov. 26/2 Much props to Kenji Jasper for knowing what real hip hop is all about. His review of the Boogiemonsters album..was right on point. 1995Represent Apr.–May 38/1 If Rap's a city, then female skills are definitely consigned to the ghetto... Rather than ghettoize women into an occasional feature, the idea was to expose them on the regular, provided of course, the product was on point. 2002Esquire May 97/1 But Cruise has always been completely on point; he knew even then that he wanted to work toward ever-higher professional levels.
▪ II. † point, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. point v.2]
An appointment, a preferment.
c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 250 Ȝif thei [poor priests] schullen haue ony heiȝe sacramentis or poyntis of þe heiȝe prelatis, comynly þei schulle bie hem wiþ pore mennus goodis wiþ hook or wiþ crok.
▪ III. ‖ point, n.3|pwæ̃|
The French for point n.1 A., in various senses; occurring in several phrases used in English, as point d'appui, point of support, fulcrum; also fig., esp. Mil., a strategic point; point d'arrêt, point saillant (Geom.); point d'attache, point of connection; point de départ = point of departure s.v. point n.1 D. 14; point de repère: see quots.; point d'orgue (see quots. 1876 and 1883).
1819Lady Morgan Fl. Macarthy I. iv. 241 (Stanf.) The boatman, with his spoon-shaped paddle fixed against a jutting rock, for a *point d'appui. 1823Byron Juan xiv. lxxxiv. 7 This I could prove beyond a single doubt, Were there a jot of sense among mankind; But till that point d'appui is found, alas! Like Archimedes, I leave earth as 'twas. 1833Edin. Rev. LVI. 383 She [sc. the Bank of England] is then, as it were, the point d'appui of the whole moneyed and commercial interests. 1836H. Greville Diary 20 Feb. (1883) I. 88 England being now in the hands of Democrats, she is no longer useful as a point d'appui to France. 1876C. M. Yonge Three Brides II. ii. 35 Raymond used to arm himself with the newspapers as the safest point d'appui. 1895E. Malet Dispatch 7 Sept. in F.O. 64/1351 No. 201 (Public Record Office), The acquisition of a ‘point d'appui’ in East Asia. 1915‘I. Hay’ First Hundred Thousand ii. xviii. 264 The wood itself is a point d'appui, or fortified post. 1920S. Alexander Space, Time, & Deity II. 136 Some point d'appui is needed for our thinking. 1934C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 127 His [sc. Satie's] progressions have..no trace of the point d'appui that we usually associate with the word progression. 1945R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 103 Gibraltar..furnished a perfect example of the value of sea power, combined with that ability to retain physical possession of a point d'appui. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway vii. 87 The point d'appui was the results in general. 1973D. Aaron Unwritten War vii. xix. 294 This defense of the past was..a point d'appui for the Southern traditionalist.
1871Todhunter Diff. Calculus (ed. 5) xxii. §304 A *point d'arrêt is a point at which a single branch of a curve suddenly stops.
1939A. Toynbee Study of Hist. V. 624 For this linguistic legacy of the Napoleonic Empire—a legacy which is the *point d'attache of the present Annex to the main thread of this Study of History—see V. C..above.
1923G. Arthur Further Lett. from Man of no Importance (1932) 146 King Edward was, however, equally determined that his *point de départ for the Vatican should be the British Embassy and not the English College which Cardinal Rampollá (I think) urged. 1933Psychoanalytic Q. II. 156 However this may be, Freud's formulation serves as the point de départ for the author's subsequent discussion of the subject. 1956N. & Q. CCI. 254/2 The Restoration of King Charles II..provided an invaluable point de départ for all those who had economic schemes to present to government and people. 1977N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Oct. 27/3 History, in this instance, will largely be the reflection of the historian's point de départ.
1886Gurney, etc. Phantasms of Living I. 468 Some point of external space at or near the seat of the imagined object plays a real part in the phenomenon. To this M. Binet gives the name of *point de repère; and he regards it as producing a nucleus of sensation to which the hallucination accretes itself. 1903Myers Hum. Personality I. Gloss., Point de repère, guiding mark. Used of some (generally inconspicuous) real object which a hallucinated subject sometimes sees along with his hallucination, and whose behaviour under magnification, &c., suggests to him similar changes in the hallucinatory figure. 1904H. James Golden Bowl I. xvi. 288 You give me a point de repère outside myself—which is where I like it. Now I can work round you. 1933Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Aug. 527/1 It is this very uncertainty that causes him to regret at the outset the absence of points de repère in modern literature, which would enable him to fit his authors into schools and categories. 1937Burlington Mag. Apr. 192/2 This picture..will now take its place as the point de repère for the identification of this painter's individual style. 1958Listener 20 Nov. 846/1 There are, of course, a few points de repère, significant works that represent a moment of apocalyptic vision. 1967V. Nabokov Speak, Memory (rev. ed.) iv. 85 Where a crack or a shadow afforded a point de repère for the eye.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 363/2 *Point d'orgue,..a pedal-point. 1883Grove Dict. Mus. III. 6/2 Point d'orgue, organ point, appears..to be used (1) for an organ point or pedal, that is, a succession of harmonies carried over a holding note..; and (2),..for the cadenza in a concerto. 1893G. B. Shaw Music in London 1890–94 (1932) III. 12 It gives him [sc. Brahms] no trouble to pile up points d'orgue, as in the Requiem. 1902― Perfect Wagnerite (ed. 2) 61 A specifically contrapuntal theme, points d'orgue, and a high C for the soprano. 1977Listener 15 Dec. 797/3 Fluctuations of pitch..must either be confined to a single line of melody, or the accompaniment must simply be a drone—as is recognised in our classical system with the pedal-point or point d'orgue.
1871Todhunter Diff. Calculus (ed. 5) xxii. §305 A *point saillant is a point at which two branches of a curve meet and stop without having a common tangent.
b. esp. In names of various kinds of lace (point n.1 A. 32), as (from the real or supposed place of manufacture) point d'Alençon, point d'Argentan, point d'Espagne, point de France, point de Paris, point de Venise, etc.; also point d'Angleterre: see quot. 18653; point d'esprit, applied to small square or oblong figures used to diversify the net ground of some kinds of lace; also in names of various stitches in lace and embroidery, as point coupé, cut work, point à l'aiguille, point de minute, point de neige, point de reprise, point russe, point de Sorrento, etc.
1645Evelyn Diary June, Broad but flat tossells of curious Point de Venize. 1676G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. ii, Sir Fop. I never saw anything prettier than this high work on your point d'Espagne. Emil. 'Tis not so rich as point de Venise. 1688Shadwell Sq. Alsatia ii. i. (1699) 18 Termagant. Devil! I'll spoil your Point de Venice for you! (Flies at him.) 1824Scott Redgauntlet ch. xi. His hat laced with point d'Espagne. 1842Point d'Argentan [see bertha, berthe]. 1850Harper's Mag. I. 431 A Pelerine..made of embroidered net trimmed with three rows of point d'Alençon. 1865Point coupé [see lacis]. 1865F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace iii. 28 Point also means a particular kind of stitch, as point de Paris, point de neige, [etc.]. Ibid. vii. 102 They [sc. English lace merchants] bought up the choicest laces of the Brussels market, and then smuggling them over to England, sold them under the name of Point d'Angleterre, or ‘English Point’. Ibid. 106 There are two kinds of flowers: those made with the needle are called ‘point à l'aiguille’. Ibid. ix. 143 The point de France supplanted that of Venice; but its price confined its use to the rich. Ibid. xvii. 216 Point de Paris, mignonette, bisette, and other narrow cheap laces were made. Ibid. xxxvi. 424 This was followed by the ‘spot’, or ‘point d'esprit’, and various other fancy nets. 1872Young Englishwoman Oct. 555/1 Stars worked in point russe. Ibid. Nov. 611/2 Fill up the grey rows..with scarlet wool in point de reprise. 1879Sylvia's Embroidery Bk. 242 The chain stitch and point russe embroidery is worked with red silk. 1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 43 Point russe is best known by small block patterns worked in fine back stitch. Ibid. 59 Surplices of fine lace resembling point d'esprit. Ibid. 89 Modern point coupé..is made on a shut linen foundation, of which some of the threads are cut away and the remainder worked over with buttonhole stitch, making regular square spaces. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 186/2 ‘Point d'Argentan’ has been thought to be especially distinguished on account of its ground of hexagonally arranged brides. 1882A. S. Cole in Ibid. XIV. 188/1 In the 17th century pillow lace in imitation of the scroll patterns of point lace..produced chiefly in Flanders, went under the name of ‘point d'Angleterre’. 1882Point de reprise [see darning-stitch (b) s.v. darning vbl. n. 3]. 1883Truth 31 May 769/2 A skirt of lilac satin covered with a point d'Alençon tunic. c1890Weldon's Pract. Needlework VIII. No. 90. 6/2 A network of button⁓hole stitches worked in pairs—the same stitch which by lace workers is technically termed ‘Point de Sorrento’. Ibid. 7/2 Point de reprise is familiar to workers of point lace, and is also used in drawn thread embroidery. Ibid. IX. No. 100. 13/2 Worm stitch, also known as ‘twisted stitch’, ‘bullion’, ‘roll picot’, or ‘point de minute’. 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 78/1 Point de Paris Ivory Lace. 1898Daily News 3 Dec. 6/4 Spotted net, or point d'esprit,..has come into fashion again for evening dresses for girls. 1902Mrs. Palliser's Hist. Lace vii. 123 Brussels point à l'aiguille, point de gaze, is the most filmy and delicate of all point lace. Ibid. xvi. 229 Embroidered tulle or point d'esprit was made in Brittany..Denmark, and around Genoa. 1919Point d'esprit [see leadwork]. 1953M. Powys Lace & Lace-Making iv. 14 Point d'Argentan... This lace is generally known from the Point d'Alençon by the ground, the Brides Bouclées, a hexagonal ground with buttonhole stitches on each of the six sides. Ibid. vi. 47 Point de France was used by distinguished prelates in the 18th century. 1958Times 18 Nov. 12/3 All wore Empire dresses of white point d'esprit net over pale blue trimmed with blue satin ribbons. 1959Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 293/2 Point de neige—a variety of rosalino. 1960H. Hayward Antique Coll. 223/1 Point d'Angleterre lace: this is not an English lace but is a pillow lace made in Brussels. 1971Country Life 4 Nov. 1197/3 At first the same as the Venetian product, this lace had its own evolution into distinctive Point de France. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 66/3 In modern usage, point de Paris has come to mean any bobbin-made lace..with a six-pointed star mesh that is twisted, as opposed to that of Chantilly which is plaited. 1975Oxf. Compan. Decorative Arts 522/1 It was not until Colbert under Louis XIV set up his state factory at Lonray near Alençon and Argentan that French Needlepoint lace under the general name of point de France established its reputation.
▪ IV. point, v.1|pɔɪnt|
Also (4 pownt), 4–6 poynte.
[orig. ME. a. OF. point-er, in its twofold capacity, ‘to prick, to mark with pricks or dots’, deriv. of F. point, and ‘to furnish with a point’, deriv. of pointe: parallel to It. puntare, Sp. puntar, from punto, punta, and med.L. punctāre from punctum, puncta. But some of the senses app. arose immediately from the Eng. point n.1, from which indeed, if no such verb had existed in French, the Eng. vb. might have arisen independently.]
I.
†1. trans. To prick with something sharp; to pierce, puncture. Obs.
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 1058 But aftirward they prile [? prike] and poynten, The folk right to the bare boon. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iii. viii. 55 It is hye tyme that they brenne, and poynte [other folk] no more. c1420Pallad. on Husb. xii. 46 So goodly by & by hit is to poynt. c1490Promp. Parv. 407/1 (MS. K) Poyntyn, puncto. 1570Levins Manip. 215/37 To Poynt, pungere.
†2. To mark with, or indicate by, pricks or dots; to jot down, note, write, describe. Obs.
13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1009 To poynte hit ȝet I pyned me parauenture. a1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 105 Eueri fote þat þou gas, Þyn Angel poynteþ hit vch a pas. 1565–73Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Diductus, Diuisio in digitos diducta, a deuision poynted or noted vpon the fingers. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. xvii. 205, I draw or point out an occult Parallel, and reckon 52 deg. 35 min. from..Lundy towards the West.
3. a. To insert the proper points or stops in (writing); to make the proper stops or pauses in (something read or spoken); to indicate the grammatical divisions, or the pauses, by points or stops; to punctuate. Also absol. Now rare.
c1400Rom. Rose 2161 A reder that poyntith ille, A good sentence may ofte spille. c1440Promp. Parv. 407/1 Poynton, or pawson, yn redynge, pauso. 1450–1530Myrr. our Ladye 67 They also that rede in the Couente ought..to ouerse theyr lesson before..that they may poynte yt as it oughte to be poynted. 1551T. Wilson Logike (1580) 70 When sentences be euill pointed, and the sence thereby depraued. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 51 Weele point our speech With amorous kissing, kissing commaes. 1699Bentley Phal. 265 Neither written nor pointed right. 1760Lloyd Actor (1790) 15 Some..Point ev'ry stop, mark ev'ry pause so strong. 1886W. D. Macray in Pilgr. Parnass. Pref. 11, I have supplied the punctuation, the MS. itself being but scantily pointed.
b. To mark (the Psalms, etc.) for chanting, by means of points.
1604(title) The Psalmes of David after the Translation of the Great Bible, pointed. 1636(title) The Booke of Common Prayer, and administration of the Sacraments, etc. of the Church of England; with the Psalter pointed. 1887Cong. Ch. Hymnal ii. Editorial Note, Selections from the Book of Psalms, and from other parts of Holy Scripture, pointed and arranged for chanting.
c. To insert the vowel (and other) points in the writing of Hebrew and other Semitic languages; also, in shorthand.
1631Gouge God's Arrows iii. §71. 315 Where they found Iehovah expressed, they read Adonai, which is pointed with the same pricks. 1681H. More Exp. Dan. Pref. 7 They did not know how to point them or vowel them. 1847J. Kirk Cloud Dispelled x. 152 The men who pointed the prophet's language.
d. To separate or mark off (figures) into groups by dots or points; esp. to mark off the decimal fraction from the integral part.
1706W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 28 Having placed the Numbers, and pointed them as the Rule Directs. 1827Hutton Course Math. I. 130 Also, to divide by 100, is done by only pointing off two figures for decimals. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 37 Point off as many decimals.
II.
4. a. To furnish with a point or points; to work or fashion to a point, to sharpen. Also fig.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 5831 A pale wel y-poynt. 1480Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 120 John Poynt⁓maker for poynting of xl dosen points of silk pointed with ageletts of laton. 1570Levins Manip. 215/38 To Poynt a knife, acuere. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. iii. 19 Till the diminution Of space, had pointed him sharpe as my Needle. 1776G. Semple Building in Water 35 Point them or burn the Points of them in a Fire to harden them. Mod. An instrument for pointing pencils.
b. to point a cable or rope: see quots.
1625–44H. Manwayring Sea-mans Dict. 76 They use also to undoe the Strond at the end of a Cabell (some 2 foot long) and so make Synnet of the Roape-Yarne, and lay them one over another againe, making it lesse towards the end, and so at the end, make them all fast with a peece of Marling, or the like. This is called pointing the Cabell. The use whereof is to keepe the Cabell from farssing, but chiefly to see that none of the end be stolne off, and cut away. 1688R. Holme Armoury iii. xv. (Roxb.) 50/1. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Pointing the Cable. 1706in Phillips. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 31 How do you point and graft a rope? If it is a small rope measure five inches from the end you intend to point, then put on a good whipping, unlay the rope and strands to the whipping, take all the outside yarns, and bring them back on the rope, and stop them there, then take all the inside yarns, scrape and taper them down, until the end will be half the size of the rope, marl it down taut with twine, split the outside yarns, and lay them up each into two (two-yarn nettles); when they are all laid up, see that there is an even number, then take every alternate nettle and lay along the pointing, pass the filling, and work down once and a-half the round of the rope, and then finish off.
5. fig.
†a. To make (food) pungent or piquant.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. 29 Do þer-to hwyte Hony or Sugre, poynte it with Venegre.
b. To give point to (words, actions, etc.); to give force, piquancy, or sting to; to lend prominence, distinction, or poignancy to.
a1704T. Brown Eng. Sat. Wks. 1730 I. 25 That Poet..pointed his verses with revenge and wit. 1726Pope Odyss. xviii. 396 And now the Martial Maid, by deeper wrongs To rouze Ulysses, points the Suitors tongues. 1727Gay Fables i. xxxix. 38 Beauty with early bloom supplies His daughter's cheeks, and points her eyes. 1748Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 222 To point a moral, or adorn a tale. 1781Cowper Conversat. 29 Who vote for hire, or point it with lampoon. 1839De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 29 The circumstances..which pointed and sharpened the public feelings on that occasion. 1885Manch. Exam. 7 Jan. 4/7 Pointing his remarks by reference to art matters in this city.
c. to point up: to emphasize, draw attention to. orig. U.S.
1934in Webster. 1940Sun (Baltimore) 3 Feb. 8/1 The warnings which Finnish spokesmen have recently given to the world that this resistance cannot continue indefinitely have been sharply pointed up by the renewal of very heavy Russian assaults along all sections of the front. 1941L. Trilling in D. Lodge 20th Cent. Lit. Crit. (1972) 286 An analysis of this sort is not momentous and not exclusive of other meanings; perhaps it does no more than point up and formulate what we all have already seen. 1951Jrnl. Aeronaut. Sci. XVIII. 622/1 The introduction of the automatic control system, particularly in pilotless aircraft, points up another basic change in our philosophy of aircraft control. 1958Listener 20 Nov. 814/2 The Federal Government..should point up the dangers of prolonging the status quo. 1967Ibid. 22 June 826/3 Another instance of this is the imagery at the beginning of Pincher Martin, which the authors ingeniously point up by comparison with a passage from Robinson Crusoe. 1969A. Cockburn in Cockburn & Blackburn Student Power 20 In a key concluding section he points up the lessons to be drawn from this record. 1972Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 19/7 The [census] returns point up the discrepancies which occur in unemployment figures. 1978Verbatim May 5/2 He points up the ambiguity in the application of the epithet unabridged.
†6. To fasten or lace with tagged points or laces; to adorn with such points. Obs.
1470–85Malory Arthur v. x. 177 To poynte his paltockes. 1473Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 55, j½ elne of vellus to be Bell a paire of sleifis with cuffis, and to poynt his jaket. 1563Homilies ii. Place & Time of Prayer i. (1640) 126 Poynting and painting themselves to be gorgeous and gay. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. iv. iv. 44 Poynted on the shoulders for the nonce.
III. 7. a. To work or deepen with a point or graving-tool. ? Obs.
1662Evelyn Chalcogr. 75 Which he engrav'd after a new way, of Etching it first, and then pointing it (as it were) with the Burine afterwards.
b. Sculpture. To mark at a series of points on (a block of stone or marble) the depth to which the initial working or roughing-out is to be done.
1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 142/1 The statue being rudely blocked out or pointed, the marble is in this state put into the hands of a superior workman called a carver. 1877A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile 423 A recent writer..is of opinion that the Egyptian sculptors did not even ‘point’ their work beforehand. 1911A. Toft Modelling & Sculpture 254 The appearance of a work when pointed is not pleasing, covered all over with innumerable holes, and little mounds of marble projecting between these holes. 1947J. C. Rich Materials & Methods of Sculpture ix. 261 Occasionally an indirect sculptor may personally point a work, or have his studio assistants or students do this for him.
8. a. Building. To fill in the lines of the joints of (brickwork) with mortar or cement, smoothed with the point of the trowel: cf. pointing vbl. n.1 5.
1375in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 9 [The roll of 1374–5 contains an account..for] powntyng [the chambers]. [1391Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 167 In salar. Willelmi Sklater punctantis super dictam domum per iiij dies, 20d.] a1400–50Alexander 5546 In at a wicket he went...Princes pointid it with pik. 1488Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 89 Item, to a sclatar for the poyntin of al the place off Stirling. 1572Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 151 Paid for ijth horse loode of lyme to point the wales. 1694Addison Virgil Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 16 Point all their chinky lodgings round with mud. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §239 The joints having been carefully pointed up to the upper surface. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §1061 To repair and ‘point’ a piece of garden wall.
b. Gardening. To prick in (manure, etc.) to a slight depth with the point of the spade; also, to turn over (the surface of the soil) in this way; to prick over.
1828H. Steuart Planter's G. 496 Let it be pointed with the spade, to the depth of two inches only, into the original soil. 1881E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects 44 Gas⁓lime, sown broadcast and then pointed in. 1897Garden 16 Jan. 42/1, I do not dig the borders at all, and the surface is merely lightly pointed over.
c. Naut. To insert the point of (a mast or spar) through an eye or ring which secures its foot; to thread.
1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 116 How is a topmast pointed?
IV.
9. a. intr. To indicate position or direction by or as by extending the finger; to direct attention to or at something in this way. (With indirect passive.)
c1470Henry Wallace viii. 291 Til him thai ȝeid..; On athir sid fast poyntand at his ger. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 148 He shewed hym, pointyng with his finger, a man with a bottle Nose. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 343 They them selues [were] poynted at with fingers. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 877 There (wold the father point to the child) goes a Viracochi. 1709Steele Tatler No. 44 ⁋1, I turned to the Object he pointed at. 1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. (1841) I. Introd. 5 Pointing this way and that way. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 416, I shall therefore, as I go along, point at the rocks on which we split. 1898Rider Haggard Doctor Therne i. 14 She pointed through the window of the coach.
b. fig. To direct the mind or thought in a certain direction: with at or to; to indicate, suggest, hint at, allude to.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 298 By seynt paul,..thou poyntest neih þe treuthe. 1598R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 10 They do..point to the rootes whence they spring, and discover the causes. 1637Heylin Antid. Lincoln. ii. 109, I rather shold conceive, that the word..points not to a table. 1663Gerbier Counsel g ij, This little Manuall doth..point at the Choise of Surveyors. 1885Sir N. Lindley in Law Times Rep. LII. 319/2 Criminal informations are within the mischief pointed at by sect. 2. 1886Manch. Exam. 2 Jan. 5/3 Everything pointed to the probability of a French protectorate being proclaimed over Burmah.
c. trans. To indicate or state.
1928Publishers' Weekly 12 May 1957 The effect on books by established authors like Galsworthy's ‘Silver Spoon’ and Ferber's ‘Show Boat’ could not be as clearly pointed. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xxi. 303 There should be an appraisal of the kind of support schools can be given, and this points the need for close consultation between the education authority's advisers, the schools themselves, and the library staff.
10. trans. To indicate the place or direction of (something) with the finger or otherwise; to indicate, direct attention to, show. Now almost always point out. Also with obj. clause.
c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 239 Men shall poynte me wyth the fynger, and shall say. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 727 My purpose is to spy and to poynte euery man. 1530Palsgr. 661/2, I poynte or shewe a thyng with my fyngar. 1579Lodge Def. Poetry C iij b, Then should the wicked bee poynted out from the good. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 43 To detect the erroneous Ways, and to point forth the true. 1726Pope Odyss. xxiv. 106 All..May point Achilles' tomb, and hail the mighty ghost. 1777S. Martin in Sc. Paraphr. xii. i, She has no guide to point her way. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 166 He has pointed out a method of cure. 1885Athenæum 18 July 76/1 He has always pointed out the necessity of rigorous observance of ascertained phonetic law. Mod. He pointed out that there were certain formalities to be observed.
11. Of a hound: To indicate the presence and position of (game) by standing rigidly looking towards it. See point n.1 C. 6.
a. intr.
[1717: implied in pointer 4.] 1742Somerville Field-Sports 257 My setter ranges in the new-shorn fields,..there he stops..And points with his instructive nose upon The trembling prey. 1837–9Hallam Hist. Lit. IV. iv. ii. §21. 13 This wise and faithful animal.. had acquired..the habit of standing still, and as it were pointing, when he came near an antiquity. 1840Penny Cycl. XVIII. 306/2 Trained to stop and point where the game lies.
b. trans.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 94 The lurking spaniel points the prize. 1850Keightley Fairy Mythol. 310 He knew an old man whose dog had pointed a troop of fairies. 1879Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. 328 Young pointers will point birds' nests in hedges or trees. 1892Field 7 May 695/1 In the next field Satin pointed a leveret.
12. a. To direct (the finger, a weapon, etc.) at, to level or aim (a gun) at; to direct (a person, his attention, or his course) to; to turn (the eyes or mind) to or upon.
1547Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxii. (1870) 205, I..poynted them to my hostage [landlord]. 1604Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 55 To make me The fixed Figure for the time of Scorne To point his slow, and mouing finger at. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 539 On mine honor, Ile point you where you shall have such receiuing As shall become your Highnesse. a1704T. Brown Sat. agst. Woman Wks. 1730 I. 57 They point fools swords against each other's breasts. 1706Phillips, To Point a Cannon, to level it against a Place. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xii, Whenever she ventured to look round, the eyes of the abbess seemed pointed upon her. 1842Tennyson Love & Duty in Poems II. 87 Should it [sc. my shadow] cross thy dreams, So might it..point thee forward to a distant light. 1850E. B. Browning Prometh. Bound in Poems I. 175 Point me not to a good, To leave me straight bereaved. 1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. i. §6 (1864) 83 These influences..seem merely to direct or point the course of the current. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. ii. 113 It was they who pointed the finger of scorn at kings and nobles. 1922Joyce Ulysses 399 Yes, Pious had told him of that land and Chaste had pointed him to the way. 1972J. Philips Vanishing Senator (1973) i. ii. 16 They're simply using Lloyd to point us in the wrong direction. 1976S. George Fatal Shadows 106 Someone..had pointed me in her direction, had wanted me to see what she was doing.
b. Fig. phr. to point the finger (of scorn) (at a person).
1829P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 499 It was a shame..that pure and honourable men should be suspected of such doings..for even at him the finger of scorn had been pointed. a1862[see sense 12 a]. 1939G. B. Shaw Geneva iii. 81 You can point the finger of the whole world at the slayer of my husband and say ‘You are guilty of murder.’ a1966‘M. na Gopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 93 The finger of scorn is pointed at you. 1978‘J. Horbury’ Diplomatic Affair x. 126 We [sc. the British] naturally hesitate to point the finger..but the fact is that all these..leaks have been date-lined Washington.
c. Anthrop. Esp. in phr. to point the bone. Amongst Australian Aborigines, to will or to bring about the death of a person by a ritual involving special bones or sticks and incantations. Also transf. and fig. Cf. pointing-bone s.v. pointing vbl. n.1 12.
1897W. E. Roth Ethnol. Stud. N.-W.-Central Queensland Aborigines xi. 156 It is most important to remember that in all cases while the death bone is being ‘pointed’, the blood of the victim passes invisibly across the intervening space to the ‘pointer’, and so along the connecting string, into the receptacle..: at the same time one of the doctor's gew-gaws, or..bone, pebble, &c., passes invisibly from the ‘pointer’ to be inserted in the body of the victim. 1904Spencer & Gillen Northern Tribes of Central Australia xiv. 458 If it were known that any one had ‘pointed the bone’, that man would at once be killed. 1913J. G. Frazer Golden Bough: Balder the Beautiful (ed. 3) I. 14 The magical bone, which the native sorcerer points at his victim as a means of killing him, is never by any chance allowed to touch the earth. Ibid., The custom of killing a man by pointing a bone or stick at him, while the sorcerer utters appropriate curses. 1934[see bone n. 1 e]. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake i. 193 He points the deathbone and the quick are still. 1953A. Upfield Murder must Wait xvii. 148 Buttons and ends came from me, are a part of me, are necessary objects required for the practice of pointing the bone. 1967B. Jefferis One Black Summer x. 184 You're asking me to point the bone at someone on no real evidence at all. 1974J. Cleary Peter's Pence vii. 197 He was..convinced that the bloody God-botherers had pointed the bone at him just like the blacks did back home in Aussie.
13. a. intr. Of a line or a material object: To lie or be situated with its point or length directed to or towards something; to have a specified direction; also, of a house, etc., to look or face.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 95 The Teeth are filed to an angle, pointing towards the end of the Saw. 1788C. Smith Emmeline (1816) III. 205 A boat..was pointing to land just where she had been sitting. 1859Jephson Brittany vi. 71 The churches of Europe were ordinarily built pointing to the east. 1896Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 102 Such loops..‘point’ as it were at right angles to the denuded surface. 1901J. Black's Illustr. Carp. & Build., Home Handicr. 37 This may be noticed in any house which points on to a busy thoroughfare.
b. intr. To aim at, have a motion or tendency towards to to (also with inf.).
1771Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 498 Dost thou point at him [Jesus] in whatsoever thou doest? 1795Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 12 Our Ships endeavouring to form a junction, the Enemy pointing to separate us, but under a very easy Sail. 1864Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. v. (1875) 58 It was the goal towards which the policy of the Frankish kings had for many years pointed.
c. U.S. In sport, to make special preparations for a particular oppponent or game.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 15 Nov. 12/7, I suppose there is a good deal of hooey in the talk of Army and Navy ‘pointing’ for each other: they do not like to be licked at any time. 1937Ibid. 1 Sept. 18/2 We are not pointing for any team in particular, but are trying to develop for our major games without being knocked off. 1944Ibid. 19 Oct. 21/2 The Jackets also are pointing for another bowl bid and defeats are anathema to gridsters with January 1 on their minds.
†14. intr. To project or stick out in a point. Obs.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 24 Which running on, the Isle of Portland pointeth out. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 233 The market place..out of which the streets do point on the Round. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 76 It shews like a great building of a Castle; for it points off with a Race from the other Mountains. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 271 They..are each about 4 Inches broad, and 8 Inches long, pointing out short at the narrow end, about 2 Inches.
15. intr. Of an abscess: To form a point or head; to come to a head.
1876Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 177 The skin is inflamed, and shows a tendency to point. 1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 176 The abscess..pointed and became red. 1885–8Fagge & Pye-Smith Princ. Med. (ed. 2) II. 56 The thinning of the roof of an abscess which is about to point.
16. trans. To place (a man) in Backgammon, etc., on a point. rare.
1680Cotton Gamester xxvi. 112 (Backgammon) The advantage of this Game is to be forward if possible upon safe terms, and to point his men at that rate that it should not be possible for you to pass.
†17. intr. Cricket. To field at point. Obs.
1862Baily's Mag. Aug. 85 The Surrey people..selecting..a Lyttelton to bowl; a John Walker to keep; an F. Burbidge to point. 1863Ibid. Sept. 44 The bowling of Tarrant and Grundy, the wicket-keeping of Lockyer, the pointing of Carpenter,..was all cricket in perfection.
18. Naut. Of a sailing vessel: to lay a course close to the wind. Freq. with up or in phr. to point high.
1899in Cent. Dict. 1941H. I. Chapelle Boatbuilding i. 37 The sailing qualities of the V-bottom hull are somewhat like those of the flat-bottom types, but with improved windward qualities if well designed. They will rarely point as high as a well-designed round-bottom boat. 1947A. Ransome Great Northern? xiii. 162 ‘The Gael's castle is behind the ridge beyond it,’ said Dorothea. ‘She won't point up for our inlet,’ said John. 1950E. C. Hiscock Cruising under Sail i. iv. 73 It [sc. the ketch] cannot point so high as a sloop, cutter, or yawl. 1954G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 146/2 A vessel points well if she sails close to the wind.
19. trans. U.S. To turn, guide, or deflect (cattle) in a particular direction.
1903A. Adams Log of Cowboy iv. 42 Priest sent Officer to the left and myself to the right to point in the leaders. 1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd xiv. 244 You're trying to point the herd then. 1947C. Price Trials I Rode 184 One time we were pointing a herd, Bill on one side and I on the other.
20. To insert white hairs (into a self-coloured fur). Usu. as pa. pple.
1911in Webster. 1913[see pointed ppl. a.1 5 c]. 1916Fur Trade Directory (N.Y.) 95 We point either skins or made-up goods. 1922W. E. Austin Princ. & Pract. Fur Dressing i. 10 They are dyed black in imitation of the black fox, or these when pointed with badger or other white hair to imitate the silver fox. 1936F. Grover Practical Fur Cutting & Furriery xv. 22 A black fox is often pointed with silver badger hairs. 1957M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 260/1 Fox fur pointed to imitate silver fox.
▪ V. † point, v.2 Obs.
[Aphetic form of appoint v.]
1. intr. To agree, settle upon: = appoint v. 1.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 107 b, The counsell, so often tymes promysed and poynted vpon.
2. trans. To fix, determine (a time or place); to prescribe, ordain, decree; to nominate (a person) to an office: = appoint v. 7, 8, 11, 12.
c1440Alphab. Tales 275 So þai poyntid a day of disputacion. c1449Pecock Repr. ii. viii. 184 If God..pointe and chese the placis. 1485in Drake Eboracum i. iv. (1736) 120 There to poynt such Personnes as shuld take Wages. 1533J. Heywood Play of Wether (1903) 1045 Poynt us a day to pay hym agayne. 1598Bp. Hall Sat. iv. i. 124 Go bid the banes, and poynt the bridall-day. 1625Bacon Ess., Building (Arb.) 550 If you doe not point any of the lower Roomes for a Dining Place of Seruants. 1711Steele Spect. No. 114 ⁋7 If..every Man would point to himself what Sum he would resolve not to exceed.
3. To equip, furnish, fit up: = appoint v. 14, 15.
1449J. Metham Amor. & Cleopes 303 Qwat yt myght be, that poyntyd was with so merwulus werkys. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xiv. 47 The prouostis men, whiche was all prest and redy poyntted to the Iouste. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. liv, Yet shall they..poynt the place nothing after thy will Eyther nere a privy, a stable or a sinke.
Hence † pointing vbl. n.
c1449Pecock Repressor ii. viii. 184 Eny such pointing, chesing, or assignyng.
▪ VI. † point, a. Obs. rare.
[Erroneously deduced from point-device.]
Complete; ready.
1633B. Jonson Tale Tub iii. iv, And if the dapper priest Be but as cunning..point in his device, As I was in my lie.
▪ VII. † point, adv. Obs. rare.
[Short for point-blank.]
Directly.
1754Richardson Grandison (1811) II. iv. 64 All the Christian doctrines..are point against it [sc. duelling]. |