point-blankn.adv.adj.

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxx. sig. Iiv Hauing a table of Randons made, mounting your peeces accordingly, no vessel can passe by your platfourme (though it be without poynte blancke) but you may with your ordinaunce at the first bouge hir and neuer bestow vayne shotte.

1671 S. Partridge Descr. Double Scale Proportion 85 If the best Randon and point blank of the one Piece be given.

1708 London Gaz. No. 4422/7 We receiv'd not one Shot from them, though within point blank, six of them at once bore down upon us.

?1775 Sailing & Fighting Instr. His Majesty's Fleet 24 (side note) Not to fire till within Point-Blank.

1846 W. Greener Sci. Gunnery (new ed.) 381 As many opinions exist as to the exact distance for what is termed point blank..it may be expedient to come to some determination.

1915 A. Seeger Let. 28 Apr. in Lett. & Diary (1917) vi. 93 He faces in every shadow the possibility of the sudden volley at point blank that will lay him cold.

1968 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 3 Jan. 7/5 (caption) Harvey Tompkins of Eureka, Utah, shot at point-blank by a neighbor in a dispute over a boundary fence.

1991 T. Goodrich Bloody Dawn vii. 109 A slug at point-blank smashed into his eye and exploded out the cheek.

1579 L. Digges & T. Digges Stratioticos 65 The third Question. If a Falcon that carrieth poynt blancke 150 pase, at vtmost randon randge 1300 pases, I demaunde howe farre a Culuering at his vtmost randon will reach, that at poynt blancke, or leuell, rangeth 250 pase.

1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) ii. xvi. 198/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I How manie scores it [sc. the shot] doth flee at point blanke.

1661 S. Partridge Descr. Double Scale Proportion 85 How far will a Cannon carry her Bullet at her best Randon, that carrieth it at point-blank 360 paces.

1851 Times 30 Dec. 4/4 At point-blank the average range is 150 yards, but the range is sometimes 50 more and sometimes 50 less.

1973 J. G. Farrell Siege of Krishnapur xxx. 326 A gun which at any elevation from point blank to five degrees could stand two hundred rounds without a strain.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 24 Now art thou within point-blanke of our Iurisdiction Regall. View more context for this quotation

1652 Persuasive to Compliance 16 The King professeth His Person..out of the point-blank of Law.

1579 L. Digges & T. Digges Stratioticos 65 The third Question. If a Falcon that carrieth poynt blancke 150 pase, at vtmost randon randge 1300 pases, I demaunde howe farre a Culuering at his vtmost randon will reach, that at poynt blancke, or leuell, rangeth 250 pase.

1594 H. Plat Jewell House 23 (heading) How to make a Pistol whose barrell is two foote in length to deliver a bullet point blank at eight skore.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. ii. 29 This boy will carrie a letter twentie mile as easie, as a Canon will shoot point-blanke twelue score. View more context for this quotation

1667 Sir R. Moray in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 473 To know how Far a Gun Shoots Point-blank (as they call it) that is, so near the Level of the Cylinder of the Peece, that the difference is either not discernable, or not considerable.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. xi. 46 If the Piece lie point blank.

1730 W. Webster Compend. Course Pract. Math. II. 207 When a cannon seems to carry point blank, or to raise its stroke, the line of aim is not parallel to the cavity of the cannon.

1789 G. Adams Ess. on Vision 36 We should no more be able to endure their impulse, than that of sand shot point-blank from a cannon.

1849 H. Melville Redburn ii. 26 He overset his seat in his eagerness to get beyond my range, for I had him point blank, full in the left eye.

1885 New Bk. Sports 20 Any man..can fire point-blank into a hustling mob of animals.

1916 E. R. Burroughs Beasts of Tarzan xiv. 212 One of them drew a revolver and fired point-blank at the Russian.

1975 Economist 13 Sept. 68/3 It was not clear whether Miss Fromme even knew how to fire the gun she aimed at the president point-blank.

1995 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Oct. b4/1 Residue blown out of her gun was found on Mr. Lemon's hand, confirming her story that she shot point-blank in self-defense when he reached back for her weapon.

1607 T. Tomkis Lingua iv. i This done, he sets me a boy sixty paces off, just point blank over-against the mouth of the piece.

1641 T. Hobbes Lett. in Wks. (1845) VII. 459 The motion of the water, when a stone falls into it, is point blanke contrary to the motion of the stone.

1675 H. Teonge Diary (1825) 51 Wee..doe steare our course poynt-blanke for Trypoly.

1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 410 I was now fully resolv'd to go up Point-blank, to my Brother (Husband) and to tell him who I was.

1806 M. L. Weems Life G. Washington (ed. 5) ii. 10 Led him up point blank to the bed.

1876 F. E. Trollope Charming Fellow II. ix. 137 [He] stood for a second, staring point-blank at her.

1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent iv. 108 He levelled his spectacles at the latter's face point-blank.

1990 R. Dahl Rhyme Stew (BNC) 48 Had this been you or me, We would have jumped up instantly And rushed along the street point-blank To rob the safe in Barclays Bank.

1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) Democritus to Rdr. 8 If it be not pointblanke to his humor, his method, his conceipt.

1644 J. Maxwell Sacro-sancta Regum Majestas viii. 94 You have point blank the contrary, a virtuall destructory of this imagined and conceited right.

1704 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World II. ii. 77 So point-blank against the common sentiment and appearance.

1782 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (new ed.) II. x. 253 If you calmly read every particular of that description, you'll find almost all of 'em point-blank the reverse of that person's villa.

1848 J. H. Newman Loss & Gain i. xv. 119 The Protestant sense of this statement is point blank opposite to our standard divines.

1890 Cent. Mag. June 224/2 Slowfoot was point-blank bad, burning up with fever, and half out of his head.

1962 D. Attwater tr. H. Delehaye Leg. Saints vi. 125 The survival..of a number of usages, of very ancient origin, which are point-blank opposed to Christian beliefs or morality.

2000 Dallas Observer (Electronic ed.) 7 Dec. ‘Too Young’ is, point blank, the best song not on Thriller.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes A dirittura, foorthright, point blanke.

a1633 Visct. Falkland Hist. Edward II (1680) 61 Spencer is pointblanck charg'd with Insolency.

1673 W. Cave Primitive Christianity i. iii. 47 Origen point blanck denies the charge.

1722 D. Defoe Relig. Courtship i. i. 17 I would ask him point blank, what Religion he was of.

1851 J. W. Carlyle Lett. I. 146 She..had offers every week; refused them point-blank.

1900 G. Ade Fables in Slang 158 He would turn to a Friend..and ask him, point blank: ‘Is it, or is it not, Better than the Dooley Stuff?’

1968 Punch 6 Nov. 658/2 However, I took the oranges home just the same, with marmalade in mind, but my wife refused pointblank.

1994 Voice 18 Oct. 14/1 On his return, a day later, she was so enamoured of the new powder that she point blank refused to have her old one back.

1679 Trials of Wakeman 24 I cannot point blank tell the time.

1768 J. Wesley Let. 29 Mar. (1931) V. 85 You must go point-blank to York, Leeds, and Bradford... Get you gone in a trice.

1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy & Other Addr. 4 Called upon to deliver his judgement point-blank and at the word of command.

1591 T. Digges L. Digges's Geom. Pract. Treatize: Pantometria (rev. ed.) 179 The first parte of the violent course of Gunners, commonly termed the peeces pointe blanke reache.

1627 Taking of St. Esprit in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 551 Some ships of our fleet..have bestowed divers shot on the French, though without point-blank distance.

1748 J. Lind Lett. Navy (1757) ii. 89 They were..within point blank shot of the enemy.

1786 T. P. Christian Mil. Refl. 53 The undulation of the water renders the direction of her shot very uncertain, whilst the point blank range of a battery is always the same.

1804 European Mag. 45 327/2 It is generally thought that the ball goes out of the piece in a straight line to a certain distance, which they call the point-blank shot. This is a mistake; for the ball immediately falls from the axis of the gun, the tangent of the curve described, though but insensibly for a short time; but the line in which gunners take sight is usually contrived to make a small angle with the axis, so that..the ball will rise above the line of sights, and then, by the force of gravity, be made to fall again into it, at the place called the point-blank shot.

1844 Queen's Regulations & Orders Army 274 An unexpected obstacle within point-blank Musket-shot of the place attacked.

1877 W. W. Fowler Woman on Amer. Frontier v. 109 The Indians meanwhile made for an isolated rock on the southern hillside, and having reached it, opened fire upon the scouts at point blank range.

1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses & Other Stories 193 Rifle shots delivered at point-blank range.

1977 Washington Post 10 Jan. d2/4 Chicago goalie..stopped Peter McNab from point-blank range.

2002 R. Cohen By Sword i. i. 20 Armor increased in thickness, and it became common to ‘proof’ a breastplate by firing a shot against it at point-blank range.

1765 tr. Mme de Sévigné Lett. (ed. 2) VII. 127 How have you been able..to keep yourself from being pierced thro' and thro',..exposed as you have been..to the point blank fire of those looks?

1786 Daily Universal Reg. 18 Oct. 2 No ship can possibly come abreast of the island without being exposed to a certain point blank fire from three or four forts at once.

1818 W. Hazlitt Lect. Eng. Poets iv. 158 The battery is not so point-blank.

1864 G. O. Trevelyan Competition Wallah iv. 107 Then they..endeavoured to crush our line with a heavy point-blank musketry fire.

1888 J. W. Burgon Lives Twelve Good Men II. xii. 361 At archery..his arrows had a more point-blank trajectory than those of his competitors.

1960 P. A. Crowl Campaign in Marianas viii. 144/2 The fire was point blank and was aimed at both the 3d Battalion zone and the area held by the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry.

1966 Lowell (Mass.) Sunday Sun 30 Jan. 45/7 Duff fired a point blank shot past New York goalie Ed Giacomin.

2001 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 28 Nov. b1 As the alliance tells it, its forces literally smoked out Taliban rebels holed up in a building, the final blow being point-blank fire from a Soviet tank.