Etimology
From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, punctum, punt, and punto.
noun
point (plural points)
A small dot or mark.
A small discrete division or individual feature of something.
A sharp extremity.
The act of pointing.
(nautical) A short piece of cordage used in reefing sails.
(historical) A string or lace used to tie together certain garments.
Lace worked by the needle.
In various sports, a position of a certain player, or, by extension, the player occupying that position.
Examples
The stars showed as tiny points of yellow light.
Commas and points they set exactly right.
10.5 is "ten point five", or ten and a half.
Sound the trumpet — not a levant, or a flourish, but a point of war.
The Congress debated the finer points of the bill.
There comes a point in a marathon when some people give up.
At this point in the meeting, I'd like to propose a new item for the agenda.
She was not feeling in good point.
I made the point that we all had an interest to protect.
The point is that we should stay together, whatever happens.
Since the decision has already been made, I see little point in further discussion.
But I love you / More than I wanted to / There's no point in trying to pretend
We're all gonna dieWhat's the point in lifeWhat's the point in life if we all die?
full large of limbe and euery ioint / He was, and cared not for God or man a point.
When time's first point begun / Made he all souls.
We should meet at a pre-arranged point.
Logic isn't my strong point.
the points of a horse
Knowledge was always useful, and he had frequently heard the words 'Great Portland Street' on the lips of his son, who regularly perused all the twelve automobilistic papers, and who was apparently the most learned pundit and inclusive encyclopædia ever created on the subject of petrol-driven vehicles, their prices, and their innumerable points.
The point color of that cat was a deep, rich sable.
Possession is nine points of the law.
We have yet to touch on the idea of stars and directors receiving gross points, which is a percentage of the studio's gross dollar . Even if the points are paid on "first dollar," the reference is only to studio share.
The one with the most points will win the game.
Ship ahoy, three points off the starboard bow!
Cut the skin with the point of the knife.
Leaue words & let them feele your lances pointes
His cowboy belt was studded with points.
Solutrean points resemble the canines of the sabre-toothed cats.
Willie Jones decided to become Kimani Jones, Black Panther, on the day his best friend, Otis Nicholson, stepped on a mine while walking point during a sweep in the central highlands.
"When do we pull the trigger?" he asked. I was quick to respond, "If Tammy get's Mrs. Wellington to agree, she'll call you in a couple hours. Then just pull out all stops. Tammy has point on this, I don't want to hear from you unless it's an all clear."
The president’s senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, has been point on immigration policy.
He captained Regis High School’s 1958 squad, but now runs point on infectious diseases.
Instead of one point-person taking all the parents’ questions, WPSD has “put together coaches and ambassadors to handle calls so one person doesn’t have to handle 2,500 calls,” Woolf said.
to fall off a point
There was moreover a hint of the duchess in the infinite point with which, as she felt, she exclaimed: "And this is what you call coming often?"
I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
The point, according to Edmondson, is an ordinary somewhat resembling the pile, issuing from the base, as in Plate VII. fig. 24, and is sometimes termed a base point pointed, but the word base is superfluous, as that is the proper place of the point; […]
[…] DCDP children are exposed to more points and gesturelike signs in their linguistic environment […]
The dog came to a point.
tierce point
pick your purse while they tie your points, and cut your throat while they smooth your pillow
He wore a garb rather fanciful, of a silver-grey colour, trimmed with crimson, and a narrow edging of silver; the lace round his throat was of the finest point;...
point de Venise; Brussels point
Related words
synonyms
(location or place): location, place, position, spot
(in geometry): ord
(particular moment in an event or occurrence): moment, ord, time
(sharp tip): end, ord, tip
(arithmetic symbol): spot, decimal point (name of the symbol; not used when reading decimal fractions aloud)
(opinion): opinion, point of view, view, viewpoint
(unit of measure of success or failure): mark (in a competition)
(color of extremities of an animal):
hyponyms
access point
accidental point
accumulation point
action point
amphidromic point
Archimedean point
assemblage point
axial point
ballpoint
Banks-Zaks fixed point
basepoint
basis point
bite point
biting point
bliss point
blue point
boiling point
boundary point
branch point
breakdown point
break-even point
breaking point
break point
Brocard point
brownie point
bullet point
cardinal point
case in point
cash point
cashpoint
charging point
chocolate point
clip point
cloud point
Clovis point
code point
coincidence point
commit point
compass point
compound point
condensation point
consolute point
construction point
control point
cover point
critical point
Curie point
data point
datum point
decimal point
deep point
demerit point
dew point
Didot point
Disney point
dot point
double point
downflooding point
Draper point
dropping point
dry point
drypoint
Eckardt point
end point
endpoint
entry point
entry point for the eye
eutectic point
exclamation point
Exeter point
experience point
extra point
extreme point
fare break point
fess point
Feynman point
fire point
firing point
first point of Aries
first point of Cancer
first point of Capricorn
first point of Libra
fixed point
flash point
floating point
flotating point
focal point
Fournier point
fourth point of contact
freezing point
frontal point
full point
game point
glazier's point
gold point
grade point
Grebe point
grid point
ground control point
grown-up point
gunpoint
health point
Heegner point
higher intermediate point
high point, highpoint
hit point
hollow point
honor point
honour point
hypercritical point
ice point
ideal point
inflection point
infopoint
initial point
interior point
interjection point
interrogation point
isoelectric point
isolated point
isosbestic point
join point
jumping-off point
junction point
kindling point
knickpoint
knifepoint
K-point
lacrimal point
Lagrange point
Lagrangian point
lambda point
lattice point
Lemoine point
libration point
ligature point
lilac point
limit point
magic point
mana point
match point
McBurney's point
melting point
midpoint, mid-point
minor point
moot point
mount point
navel point
near point
needlepoint
nick point
nip point
nombril point
occipital point
omega point
Omega point
operating point
ordinary point
outpoint
pain point
passion point
pedal point
penalty point
percentage point
Pica point
pinch point
pivot point
pogi point
point of care
point of difference
power point
pressure point
projectile point
radix point
Radon point
raised point
reference point
rogue access point
saddle point
sample pointt
saturation point
save point
scatter point
Schelling point
seal point
sequence point
set point
SharePoint
silly point
singular point
skill point
smoke point
sore point
spawn point
speaker point
specie point
stagnation point
standpoint
starting point
stationary point
sticking point
stress point
subsolar point
take point
talking point
till point
tipping point
transition point
trig point
triple point
trisection point
trois point
Trojan point
Truchet point
turning point
vanishing point
vantage point
vernal point
victory point
vowel point
waypoint
yield point
zero point
related terms
point d'appui
Etimology
From Middle English pointen, poynten, from Old French pointier, pointer, poynter, from point from Latin pūnctum.
verb
point (third-person singular simple present points, present participle pointing, simple past and past participle pointed)
(intransitive) To extend the index finger in the direction of something in order to show where it is or to draw attention to it.
(intransitive) To draw attention to something or indicate a direction.
(intransitive) To face in a particular direction.
(transitive, sometimes figurative) To direct toward an object; to aim.
To give a point to; to sharpen; to cut, forge, grind, or file to an acute end.
(intransitive) To indicate a probability of something.
(transitive, intransitive, masonry) To repair mortar.
(transitive, masonry) To fill up and finish the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
(stone-cutting) To cut, as a surface, with a pointed tool.
(transitive) To direct or encourage (someone) in a particular direction.
(transitive, mathematics) To separate an integer from a decimal with a decimal point.
(transitive) To mark with diacritics.
(dated) To supply with punctuation marks; to punctuate.
(transitive, computing) To direct the central processing unit to seek information at a certain location in memory.
(transitive, Internet) To direct requests sent to a domain name to the IP address corresponding to that domain name.
(intransitive, nautical) To sail close to the wind.
(intransitive, hunting) To indicate the presence of game by a fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
(medicine, of an abscess) To approximate to the surface; to head.
(dated) To give point to (something said or done); to give particular prominence or force to.
Examples
It's rude to point at other people.
Now must the world point at poor Katharine.
Point at the tattered coat and ragged shoe.
Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot.
The arrow of a compass points north
The skis were pointing uphill.
The arrow on the map points towards the entrance
In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
to point a gun at a wolf, or a cannon at a fort
Mr. Fitzsimons pointed my attention to an outside car on which was written, "Take warning," or something of that kind, and he pointed that out to me, and drew my attention to it, as a thing likely to intimidate […]
to point a dart, a pencil, or a moral
Tens of thousands of Portuguese, Greek and Irish people have left their homelands this year, many heading for the southern hemisphere. Anecdotal evidence points to the same happening in Spain and Italy.
Damaged stone will be removed, and the new stone installed and pointed to ensure a comprehensive match to maintain the integrity of the structure.
If he asks for food, point him toward the refrigerator.
Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them.
to point a composition
Bear off a little, we're pointing.
He treads with caution, and he points with fear.
He points it, however, by no deviation from his straightforward manner of speech.
‘Oh, it is the great defect in our Indian character!’ – and, as if to point his criticism, the lights of the Civil Station appeared on a rise to the right.
Etimology
From Middle English pointen, poynten, by apheresis of apointen, appointen, appoynten. See appoint.
verb
point (third-person singular simple present points, present participle pointing, simple past and past participle pointed)
(obsolete) To appoint.
Examples
And he, that points the Centinel his room,Doth license him depart at sound of morning Droom.