POINT, n. [L. punctum, from pungo, to prick, properly to thrust, pret. pepugi, showing that n is not radical.]

1. The sharp end of any instrument or body; as, the point of a knife, of a sword, or of a thorn.
2. A string with a tag; as, a silken point. – Shak.
3. A small cape, headland or promontory; a tract of land extending into the sea, a lake or river, beyond the line of the shore, and becoming narrow at the end; as, point Judith; Montauk point. It is smaller than a cape.
4. The sting of an epigram; a lively turn of thought or expression that strikes with force and agreeable surprise. With periods, points and tropes he slurs his crimes. – Dryden.
5. An indivisible part of time or space. We say, a point of time, a point of space. – Locke. Davies.
6. A small space; as, a small point of land. – Prior.
7. Punctilio; nicety; exactness of ceremony; as, points of precedence.
8. Place near, next or continuous to; verge; eve. He is on the point of departure, or at the point of death.
9. Exact place. He left off at the point where he began.
10. Degree; state of elevation, depression or extension; as, he has reached an extraordinary point of excellence. He has fallen to the lowest point of degradation.
11. A character used to mark the divisions of writing, or the pauses to be observed in reading or speaking; as the comma, semicolon, colon, and period. The period is called a full stop, as it marks the close of a sentence.
12. A spot; a part of a surface divided by spots or lines; as, the ace or sise point.
13. In geometry, that which has neither parts nor magnitude. – Euclid. A point is that which has position but not magnitude. – Playfair. A point is a limit terminating a line. – Legendre.
14. In music, a mark or note anciently used to distinguish tones or sounds. Hence, simple counterpoint is when a note of the lower part answers exactly to that of the upper; and figurative counterpoint, is when a note is syncopated and one of the parts makes several notes or inflections of the voice while the other holds on one. – Encyc.
15. In modern music, a dot placed by a note to raise its value or prolong its time by one half, so as to make a semibreve equal to three minims; a minim equal to three quavers, &c.
16. In astronomy, a division of the great circles of the horizon, and of the mariner's compass. The four cardinal points, are the east, west, north and south. On the space between two of these points, making a quadrant or quarter of a circle, the compass is marked with subordinate divisions, the whole number being thirty-two points.
17. In astronomy, a certain place marked in the heavens, or distinguished for its importance in astronomical calculations. The zenith and nadir are called vertical points; the nodes are the points where the orbits of the planets intersect the plane of the ecliptic; the places where the equator and ecliptic intersect are called equinoctial points; the points of the ecliptic at which the departure of the sun from the equator, north and south, is terminated, are called solstitial points.
18. In perspective, a certain pole or place with regard to the perspective plane. – Encyc.
19. In manufactories, a lace or work wrought by the needle; as, point le Venice, point de Genoa, &c. Sometimes the word is used for lace woven with bobbins. Point devise is used for needle work, or for nice work.
20. The place to which any thing is directed, or the direction in which an object is presented to the eye. We say, in this point of view an object appears to advantage. In this or that point of view the evidence is important.
21. Particular; single thing or subject. In what point do we differ? All points of controversy between the parties are adjusted. We say, in point of antiquity, in point of fact, in point of excellence. The letter in every point is admirable. The treaty is executed in every point.
22. Aim; purpose; thing to be reached or accomplished; as, to gain one's point.
23. The act of aiming or striking. What a point your falcon made. – Shak.
24. A single position; a single assertion; a single part of a complicated question or of a whole. These arguments are not sufficient to prove the point. Strange point and new! / Doctrine which we would know whence learned. – Milton.
25. A note or tune. Turning your tongue divine / To a loud trumpet, and a point of war. – Shak.
26. In heraldry, points are the several different parts of the escutcheon, denoting the local positions of figures. – Encyc.
27. In electricity, the acute termination of a body which facilitates the passage of the fluid to or from the body. – Encyc.
28. In gunnery, point-blank denotes the shot of a gun leveled horizontally. The point-blank range, is the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged. In shooting point-blank, the ball is supposed to move directly to the object, without a curve. Hence adverbially, the word is equivalent to directly.
29. In marine language, points are flat pieces of braided cordage, tapering from the middle toward each end; used in reeling the courses and top-sails of square-rigged vessels. – Mar. Dict. Point de vise. [Fr.] Exactly in the point of view. – Shak. Vowel-points, in the Hebrew and other Eastern languages, are certain marks placed above or below the consonants, or attached to them, as in the Ethiopic, representing the vocal sounds or vowels, which precede or follow the articulations. The point, the subject; the main question; the precise thing to be considered, determined or accomplished. This argument may be true, but it is not to the point.

1. To direct the finger for designating an object, and exciting attention to it; with at. Now must the world point at poor Catherine. – Shak. Point at the tatter'd coat and ragged shoe. – Dryden.
2. To indicate, as dogs do to sportsmen. He treads with caution, and he points with fear. – Gay.
3. To show distinctly by any means. To point at what time the balance of power was most equally held between the lords and commons at Rome, would perhaps admit a controversy. – Swift.
4. To fill the joints or crevices of a wall with mortar.
5. In the rigging of a ship, to taper the end of a rope or splise, and work over the reduced part a small close netting, with an even number of knittles twisted from the same. – Cyc. To point at, to treat with scorn or contempt by pointing or directing attention to.

1. To sharpen; to cut, forge, grind or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart or a pin; also, to taper, as a rope.
2. To direct toward an object or place, to show its position, or excite attention to it; as, to point the finger at an object; to point the finger of scorn at one. – Shak.
3. To direct the eye or notice. Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them, would see nothing but subjects of surprise. – Pope.
4. To aim; to direct toward an object; as, to point a musket at a wolf; to point a cannon at a gate.
5. To mark with characters for the purpose of distinguishing the members of a sentence, and designating the pauses; as, to point a written composition.
6. To mark with vowel-points.
7. To appoint. [Not in use.] – Spenser.
8. To fill the joints of with mortar, and smooth them with the point of a trowel; as, to point a wall. To point out, to show by the finger or by other means. To point a sail, to affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs.

1. To appoint.
   
   
   [Obs.] Spenser.
2. That which pricks or pierces] the sharp end of anything, esp. the sharp end of a piercing instrument, as a needle or a pin.
3. To give a point to] to sharpen; to cut, forge, grind, or file to an acute end; as, to point a dart, or a pencil. Used also figuratively; as, to point a moral.
4. To direct the point of something, as of a finger, for the purpose of designating an object, and attracting attention to it; -- with at.
   
   

   Now must the world point at poor Katharine. Shak.

   Point at the tattered coat and ragged shoe. Dryden.

5. A pointed piece of quill or bone covered at one end with vaccine matter; -- called also vaccine point.
6. An instrument which pricks or pierces, as a sort of needle used by engravers, etchers, lace workers, and others; also, a pointed cutting tool, as a stone cutter's point; -- called also pointer.
7. To direct toward an abject; to aim; as, to point a gun at a wolf, or a cannon at a fort.
8. To indicate the presence of game by fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
   
   

   He treads with caution, and he points with fear. Gay.

9. One of the raised dots used in certain systems of printing and writing for the blind. The first practical system was that devised by Louis Braille in 1829, and still used in Europe (see Braille). Two modifications of this are current in the United States: New York point founded on three bases of equidistant points arranged in two lines (viz., : :: :::), and a later improvement, American Braille, embodying the Braille base (:::) and the New-York-point principle of using the characters of few points for the commonest letters.
10. Anything which tapers to a sharp, well- defined termination. Specifically: A small promontory or cape; a tract of land extending into the water beyond the common shore line.
11. Hence, to direct the attention or notice of.
    
    

    Whosoever should be guided through his battles by Minerva, and pointed to every scene of them. Pope.

12. To approximate to the surface; to head; -- said of an abscess.
    
    

    To point at, to treat with scorn or contempt by pointing or directing attention to. -- To point well (Naut.), to sail close to the wind; -- said of a vessel.

13. In various games, a position of a certain player, or, by extension, the player himself;
    
    
    as: (1) (Lacrosse *** Ice Hockey)
14. The mark made by the end of a sharp, piercing instrument, as a needle; a prick.
15. To supply with punctuation marks; to punctuate; as, to point a composition.
16. An indefinitely small space; a mere spot indicated or supposed. Specifically: (Geom.) That which has neither parts nor magnitude; that which has position, but has neither length, breadth, nor thickness, -- sometimes conceived of as the limit of a line; that by the motion of which a line is conceived to be produced.
17. To mark (as Hebrew) with vowel points.
18. An indivisible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence, the verge.
    
    

    When time's first point begun
    Made he all souls. Sir J. Davies.

19. To give particular prominence to; to designate in a special manner; to indicate, as if by pointing; as, the error was pointed out.
    
    
    Pope.

    He points it, however, by no deviation from his straightforward manner of speech. Dickens.

20. A mark of punctuation; a character used to mark the divisions of a composition, or the pauses to be observed in reading, or to point off groups of figures, etc.; a stop, as a comma, a semicolon, and esp. a period; hence, figuratively, an end, or conclusion.
    
    

    And there a point, for ended is my tale. Chaucer.

    Commas and points they set exactly right. Pope.

21. To indicate or discover by a fixed look, as game.
22. Whatever serves to mark progress, rank, or relative position, or to indicate a transition from one state or position to another, degree; step; stage; hence, position or condition attained; as, a point of elevation, or of depression; the stock fell off five points; he won by tenpoints.
    
    
    "A point of precedence." Selden. "Creeping on from point to point." Tennyson.

    A lord full fat and in good point. Chaucer.

23. To fill up and finish the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.
24. That which arrests attention, or indicates qualities or character; a salient feature; a characteristic; a peculiarity; hence, a particular; an item; a detail; as, the good or bad points of a man, a horse, a book, a story, etc.
    
    

    He told him, point for point, in short and plain. Chaucer.

    In point of religion and in point of honor. Bacon.

    Shalt thou dispute
    With Him the points of liberty ? Milton.

25. To cut, as a surface, with a pointed tool.
    
    

    To point a rope (Naut.), to taper and neatly finish off the end by interweaving the nettles. -- To point a sail (Naut.), to affix points through the eyelet holes of the reefs. -- To point off, to divide into periods or groups, or to separate, by pointing, as figures. -- To point the yards (of a vessel) (Naut.), to brace them so that the wind shall strike the sails obliquely. Totten.

26. Hence, the most prominent or important feature, as of an argument, discourse, etc.; the essential matter; esp., the proposition to be established; as, the point of an anecdote.
    
    
    "Here lies the point." Shak.

    They will hardly prove his point. Arbuthnot.

27. A small matter; a trifle; a least consideration; a punctilio.
    
    

    This fellow doth not stand upon points. Shak.

    [He] cared not for God or man a point. Spenser.

28. A dot or mark used to designate certain tones or time
    
    
    ; as: (a) (Anc. Mus.)
29. A fixed conventional place for reference, or zero of reckoning, in the heavens, usually the intersection of two or more great circles of the sphere, and named specifically in each case according to the position intended; as, the equinoctial points; the solstitial points; the nodal points; vertical points, etc. See Equinoctial Nodal.
30. One of the several different parts of the escutcheon. See Escutcheon.
31. One of the points of the compass (see Points of the compass, below); also, the difference between two points of the compass; as, to fall off a point.
    
    
    (b)
32. A a string or lace used to tie together certain parts of the dress.
    
    
    Sir W. Scott.
33. Lace wrought the needle; as, point de Venise; Brussels point. See Point lace, below.
34. A switch.
    
    
    [Eng.]
35. An item of private information; a hint; a tip; a pointer.
    
    
    [Cant, U. S.]
36. A fielder who is stationed on the off side, about twelve or fifteen yards from, and a little in advance of, the batsman.
37. The attitude assumed by a pointer dog when he finds game; as, the dog came to a point. See Pointer.
38. A standard unit of measure for the size of type bodies, being one twelfth of the thickness of pica type. See Point system of type, under Type.
39. A tyne or snag of an antler.
40. One of the spaces on a backgammon board.
41. A movement executed with the saber or foil; as, tierce point.
    
    

    * The word point is a general term, much used in the sciences, particularly in mathematics, mechanics, perspective, and physics, but generally either in the geometrical sense, or in that of degree, or condition of change, and with some accompanying descriptive or qualifying term, under which, in the vocabulary, the specific uses are explained; as, boiling point, carbon point, dry point, freezing point, melting point, vanishing point, etc.

    At all points, in every particular, completely; perfectly. Shak. -- At point, In point, At, In, or On, the point, as near as can be; on the verge; about (see About, prep., 6); as, at the point of death; he was on the point of speaking. "In point to fall down." Chaucer. "Caius Sidius Geta, at point to have been taken, recovered himself so valiantly as brought day on his side." Milton. -- Dead point. (Mach.) Same as Dead center, under Dead. -- Far point (Med.), in ophthalmology, the farthest point at which objects are seen distinctly. In normal eyes the nearest point at which objects are seen distinctly; either with the two eyes together (binocular near point), or with each eye separately (monocular near point). -- Nine points of the law, all but the tenth point; the greater weight of authority. -- On the point. See At point, above. -- Point lace, lace wrought with the needle, as distinguished from that made on the pillow. -- Point net, a machine-made lace imitating a kind of Brussels lace (Brussels ground). -- Point of concurrence (Geom.), a point common to two lines, but not a point of tangency or of intersection, as, for instance, that in which a cycloid meets its base. -- Point of contrary flexure, a point at which a curve changes its direction of curvature, or at which its convexity and concavity change sides. -- Point of order, in parliamentary practice, a question of order or propriety under the rules. -- Point of sight (Persp.), in a perspective drawing, the point assumed as that occupied by the eye of the spectator. -- Point of view, the relative position from which anything is seen or any subject is considered. -- Points of the compass (Naut.), the thirty-two points of division of the compass card in the mariner's compass; the corresponding points by which the circle of the horizon is supposed to be divided, of which the four marking the directions of east, west, north, and south, are called cardinal points, and the rest are named from their respective directions, as N. by E., N. N. E., N. E. by N., N. E., etc. See Illust. under Compass. -- Point paper, paper pricked through so as to form a stencil for transferring a design. -- Point system of type. See under Type. -- Singular point (Geom.), a point of a curve which possesses some property not possessed by points in general on the curve, as a cusp, a point of inflection, a node, etc. -- To carry one's point, to accomplish one's object, as in a controversy. -- To make a point of, to attach special importance to. -- To make, or gain, a point, accomplish that which was proposed; also, to make advance by a step, grade, or position. -- To mark, or score, a point, as in billiards, cricket, etc., to note down, or to make, a successful hit, run, etc. -- To strain a point, to go beyond the proper limit or rule; to stretch one's authority or conscience. -- Vowel point, in Hebrew, and certain other Eastern and ancient languages, a mark placed above or below the consonant, or attached to it, representing the vowel, or vocal sound, which precedes or follows the consonant.