/pɔɪnt/
OriginFrom 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”); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle), all from Proto-Italic *pungō (“to sting, prick”).
Mostly displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, punt, and punto.
- countable, uncountableSomething tiny, as a pinprick; a very small mark.
“The stars showed as tiny points of yellow light.”
- countable, uncountableA full stop or other terminal punctuation mark.
“Commas and points they set exactly right.”
- countable, uncountableA decimal point (now especially when reading decimal fractions aloud).
“10.5 is "ten point five", or ten and a half.”
“0.375 cm is nought point three seven five of a centimeter.”
- countable, uncountableEach of the marks or strokes written above letters, especially in Semitic languages, to indicate vowels, stress etc.
- countable, uncountableA dot or mark used to designate certain tones or time. In ancient music, it distinguished or characterized certain tones or styles (points of perfection, of augmentation, etc.). In modern music, it is placed on the right of a note to raise its value, or prolong its time, by one half.
- broadly, countable, uncountableA note; a tune.
“Sound the trumpet — not a levant, or a flourish, but a point of war.”
- countable, uncountableA zero-dimensional mathematical object representing a location in one or more dimensions; something considered to have position but no magnitude or direction.
- countable, uncountableAn individual element in a larger whole; a particular detail, thought, or quality.
“The Congress debated the finer points of the bill.”
- countable, uncountableA particular moment in an event or occurrence; a juncture.
“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.”
- archaic, countable, uncountableCondition, state.
“She was not feeling in good point.”
- countable, uncountableA topic of discussion or debate; a proposition; a count
“I made the point that we all had an interest to protect.”
- US, countable, dated, slang, uncountableAn item of private information; a hint; a tip; a pointer.
- countable, uncountableA focus of conversation or consideration; the main idea.
“The point is that we should stay together, whatever happens.”
- countable, uncountableA purpose or objective, which makes something meaningful.
“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 die
What's the point in life
What's the point in life if we all die?”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableThe smallest quantity of something; a jot, a whit.
“full large of limbe and euery ioint / He was, and cared not for God or man a point.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA tiny amount of time; a moment.
“When time's first point begun / Made he all souls.”
- countable, uncountableA specific location or place, seen as a spatial position.
“We should meet at a pre-arranged point.”
- countable, uncountableA distinguishing quality or characteristic.
“Logic isn't my strong point.”
- countable, dated, in-plural, uncountableThe chief or excellent features.
“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 th”
- countable, plural-normally, uncountableAn area of contrasting colour on an animal, especially a dog; a marking.
“The point color of that cat was a deep, rich sable.”
- countable, uncountableA tenth; formerly also a twelfth.
“Possession is nine points of the law.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountableEllipsis of percentage point.
“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 (e.g., the $5.00 studio share of the total box office dollar in Table”
- countable, uncountableA unit of scoring in a game or competition.
“The one with the most points will win the game.”
- countable, uncountableA unit of various numerical parameters used in a game, e.g. health, experience, stamina, mana.
“This attack deals 320 points of damage.”
“Defeating the boss grants 60 experience points.”
- countable, uncountableA unit used to express differences in prices of stocks and shares.
- countable, uncountableA unit of measure equal to 1/12 of a pica, or approximately 1/72 of an inch (exactly 1/72 of an inch in the digital era).
- UK, countable, uncountableAn electric power socket.
- countable, uncountableA unit of bearing equal to one thirty-second of a circle, i.e. 11.25°.
“Ship ahoy, three points off the starboard bow!”
- UK, countable, uncountableA unit of measure for rain, equal to 0.254 mm or 0.01 of an inch.
- countable, in-plural, uncountableEither of the two metal surfaces in a distributor which close or open to allow or prevent the flow of current through the ignition coil. There is usually a moving point, pushed by the distributor cam, and a fixed point, and they are built together as a unit.
- countable, uncountableThe sharp tip of an object.
“Cut the skin with the point of the knife.”
“Leaue words & let them feele your lances pointes”
- countable, uncountableAny projecting extremity of an object.
- countable, uncountableAn object which has a sharp or tapering tip.
“His cowboy belt was studded with points.”
- countable, uncountableA spearhead or similar object hafted to a handle.
“Solutrean points resemble the canines of the sabre-toothed cats.”
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA vaccine point.
- countable, uncountableEach of the twelve triangular positions in either table of a backgammon board, on which the stones are played.
- countable, uncountableA peninsula or promontory.
- countable, uncountableThe position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force.
“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.”
- broadly, countable, uncountableAn operational or public leadership position in a risky endeavor.
“"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 d”
“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.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountableEllipsis of point man.
- countable, uncountableEach of the main directions on a compass, usually considered to be 32 in number; a direction.
- countable, uncountableThe difference between two points of the compass.
- countable, uncountablePointedness of speech or writing; a penetrating or decisive quality of expression.
“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”
- UK, countable, in-plural, uncountableA railroad switch.
- countable, uncountableA tine or snag of an antler.
- countable, uncountableOne of the "corners" of the escutcheon: the base (bottom center) unless a qualifier is added (point dexter, point dexter base, point sinister, point sinister base), generally when separately tinctured. (Compare terrace, point champaine, enté en point.)
- broadly, countable, uncountableAn ordinary similar to a pile (but sometimes shorter), extending upward from the base. (Often termed a point pointed.)
“The point, according to Edmondson, (meaning the point pointed,) is an ordinary somewhat resembling the pile, issuing from the base, as in Plate VII. fig. 24, and is sometimes termed a base point point”
- countable, uncountableThe act of pointing, as of the foot downward in certain dance positions.
- countable, uncountableThe gesture of extending the index finger in a direction in order to indicate something.
“[…] DCDP children are exposed to more points and gesturelike signs in their linguistic environment […]”
- countable, uncountableThe attitude assumed by a pointer dog when he finds game.
“The dog came to a point.”
- countable, uncountableThe perpendicular rising of a hawk over the place where its prey has gone into cover.
- countable, uncountableA movement executed with the sabre or foil.
- countable, uncountableA short piece of cordage used in reefing sails.
- countable, historical, uncountableA string or lace used to tie together certain garments.
“pick your purse while they tie your points, and cut your throat while they smooth your pillow”
- countable, uncountableLace worked by the needle.
“point de Venise; Brussels point”
“And I to make all knovv, I am not ſhallovv, / VVill have my points of Cucchineale and yellovv.”
“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; […]”
- countable, uncountableA fielding position square of the wicket on the off side, between gully and cover.
- countable, uncountableThe position of the player of each side who stands a short distance in front of the goalkeeper.
- countable, uncountableThe position of the pitcher and catcher.
- countable, uncountableA spot to which a straight run is made; hence, a straight run from point to point; a cross-country run.
- point taken; understood; got it
- intransitiveTo extend the index finger in the direction of something in order to show where it is or to draw attention to it.
“It's rude to point at other people.”
“Now must the world point at poor Katharine.”
“Point at the tattered coat and ragged shoe.”
- intransitiveTo draw attention to something or indicate a direction.
“The arrow of a compass points north”
“The skis were pointing uphill.”
“The arrow on the map points towards the entrance”
- intransitiveTo face in a particular direction.
- figuratively, sometimes, transitiveTo direct toward an object; to aim.
“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 ”
- To give a point to; to sharpen; to cut, forge, grind, or file to an acute end.
“to point a dart, a pencil, or (figuratively) a moral”
- intransitiveTo indicate a probability of something.
“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 Ital”
- ambitransitiveTo repair mortar.
- transitiveTo fill up and finish the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
- To cut, as a surface, with a pointed tool.
“Damaged stone will be removed, and the new stone installed and pointed to ensure a comprehensive match to maintain the integrity of the structure.”
- transitiveTo direct or encourage (someone) in a particular direction.
“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.”
- transitiveTo separate an integer from a decimal with a decimal point.
- transitiveTo mark with diacritics.
- datedTo supply with punctuation marks; to punctuate.
- transitiveTo direct the central processing unit to seek information at a certain location in memory.
- Internet, transitiveTo direct requests sent to a domain name to the IP address corresponding to that domain name.
- intransitiveTo sail close to the wind.
“Bear off a little, we're pointing.”
- intransitiveTo indicate the presence of game by a fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
“Novv the vvarm Scent aſſures the Covey near, / He [the dog] treads vvith Caution, and he points vvith Fear; […]”
- To approximate to the surface; to head.
- datedTo give point to (something said or done); to give particular prominence or force to.
“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.”
- obsoleteTo appoint.
“And he, that points the Centinel his room,
Doth license him depart at sound of morning Droom.”
- informalUSMA (United States Military Academy) in West Point, New York.
“Study goes on until tattoo, which, when Pops was at the Point, was sounded at 9.30, followed by taps at 10.”
- A township in Posey County, Indiana, United States, so-named for being the southernmost and westernmost point in the state.
- A township in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States.
- A minor city in Rains County, Texas, United States.
- A coastal settlement in Feock parish, south-west Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW8138).
“Cornwall County Council asked for a decision on objections raised by property owners to its proposal to convert the site of the railway into a public road for a distance of 1 mile 86 yards from Devora”
- A surname from French.
Formspoints(plural) · p'int(alternative) · points(present, singular, third-person) · pointing(participle, present) · pointed(participle, past) · pointed(past) · the Point(canonical) · Points(plural)