point

      English

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      Etymology

      From Middle English point, from Old French point (“a point, dot, full stop, period, speck, hole, stitch, point of time, moment, difficulty, etc.”), from Latin punctum (“a point, puncture”), prop. a hole punched in, substantive use of punctus, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”). Displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”).

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      point (plural points)

      1. A discrete division of something.
        1. An individual element in a larger whole; a particular detail, thought, or quality. [from 13th c.]
          The Congress debated the finer points of the bill.
        2. A particular moment in an event or occurrence; a juncture. [from 13th c.]
          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.
        3. (archaic) Condition, state. [from 13th c.]
          She was not feeling in good point.
        4. A topic of discussion or debate; a proposition, a focus of conversation or consideration. [from 14th c.]
          I made the point that we all had an interest to protect.
        5. (obsolete) The smallest quantity of something; a jot, a whit. [14th-17th c.]
          • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:
            full large of limbe and euery ioint / He was, and cared not for God or man a point.
        6. (obsolete) A tiny amount of time; a moment. [14th-17th c.]
        7. A specific location or place, seen as a spatial position. [from 14th c.]
          We should meet at a pre-arranged point.
        8. (mathematics, sciences) A zero-dimensional mathematical object representing a location in one or more dimensions; something considered to have position but no magnitude or direction. [from 14th c.]
        9. A purpose or objective. [from 14th c.]
          Since the decision has already been made, I see little point in further discussion.
        10. A full stop or other terminal punctuation mark. [from 14th c.]
        11. A distinguishing quality or characteristic. [from 15th c.]
          Logic isn't my strong point.
        12. Something tiny, as a pinprick; a very small mark. [from 15th c.]
          The stars showed as tiny points of yellow light.
        13. (now only in phrases) A tenth; formerly also a twelfth. [from 17th c.]
          Possession is nine points of the law.
        14. Each of the marks or strokes written above letters, especially in Semitic languages, to indicate vowels, stress etc. [from 17th c.]
        15. (gaming) A unit of scoring in a game or competition. [from 18th c.]
          The one with the most points will win the game
        16. (mathematics) A decimal point (now especially when reading decimal fractions aloud). [from 18th c.]
          10.5 ("ten point five"; = ten and a half)
        17. (economics) A unit used to express differences in prices of stocks and shares. [from 19th c.]
        18. (typography) a 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). [from 19th c.]
        19. (UK) An electric power socket. [from 20th c.]
        20. (navigation, nautical) A unit of bearing equal to one thirty-second of a circle, i.e. 11.25°.
          Ship ahoy, three points off the starboard bow!
      2. A sharp extremity.
        1. The sharp tip of an object. [from 14th c.]
          Cut the skin with the point of the knife.
        2. Any projecting extremity of an object. [from 14th c.]
        3. An object which has a sharp or tapering tip. [from 14th c.]
          His cowboy belt was studded with points.
        4. (backgammon) Each of the twelve triangular positions in either table of a backgammon board, on which the stones are played. [from 15th c.]
        5. A peninsula or promontory. [from 15th c.]
        6. The position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force. [from 16th c.]
          • 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-7432-3011-6, page 189:
            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.
        7. Each of the main directions on a compass, usually considered to be 32 in number; a direction. [from 16th c.]
        8. Pointedness of speech or writing; a penetrating or decisive quality of expression. [from 17th c.]
          • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
            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?"
        9. (rail transport, UK, in the plural) A railroad switch. [from 19th c.]
        10. (usually in the plural) An area of contrasting colour on an animal, especially a dog; a marking. [from 19th c.]
          The point color of that cat was a deep, rich sable.
        11. (cricket) A fielding position square of the wicket on the off side, between gully and cover. [from 19th c.]

      Synonyms

      See also

      Derived terms

      Terms derived from the noun point

      Related terms

      Terms related to the noun point

      Translations

      element in larger whole
      particular moment in an event or occurrence
      archaic: condition, state
      opinion which adds to the discussion
      smallest quantity of something
      tiny amount of time
      location or place
      geometry: zero-dimensional object
      purpose or objective
      full stop
      distinguishing quality
      something tiny
      tenth part
      mark or stroke above letter
      unit of scoring in a game or competition
      arithmetic: decimal point
      economics: unit of change
      typography: unit of size
      electric power socket
      sharp tip
      any projecting extremity
      object with sharp tip
      backgammon: one of the twelve triangular positions
      peninsula
      position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force
      compass point
      railroad switch
      area of contrasting color
      cricket: fielding position between gully and cover
      The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
      Translations to be checked

      Verb

      point (third-person singular simple present points, present participle pointing, simple past and past participle pointed)

      1. (intransitive) To 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.
        • Shakespeare
          Now must the world point at poor Katharine.
        • Dryden
          Point at the tattered coat and ragged shoe.
        • 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, BBC Sport:
          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.
      2. (intransitive) To 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
      3. (intransitive) to indicate a probability of something
        • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, the Guardian:
          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.
      4. (transitive, intransitive, masonry) To repair mortar.
      5. (transitive) To direct or encourage (someone) in a particular direction
        If he asks for food, point him toward the refrigerator.
      6. (transitive, mathematics) to separate an integer from a decimal with a decimal point
      7. (transitive) to mark with diacritics
      8. (transitive, computing) To direct the central processing unit to seek information at a certain location in memory.
      9. (transitive, Internet) To direct requests sent to a domain name to the IP address corresponding to that domain name.
      10. (intransitive, nautical) to sail close to the wind
        Bear off a little, we're pointing.
      11. (transitive, hunting) To indicate the presence of game by a fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
        • Gay
          He treads with caution, and he points with fear.
      12. (medicine, of an abscess) To approximate to the surface; to head.
      13. (obsolete) To appoint.
        (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

      Derived terms

      Terms derived from the verb to point

      Translations

      to extend finger
      direct

      Statistics

      External links

      Anagrams

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      French

      Pronunciation

      Etymology 1

      Middle French poinct, from Old French point, from Latin punctus

      Noun

      point m (plural points)

      1. point (small mark)
      2. (sports, games) point
      3. full stop, period (punctuation mark)
      Derived terms

      Adverb

      point

      1. (literary, dialectal, usually with "ne") not
        Ne craignez point - Fear not
      Synonyms
      • pas (contemporary French)

      Verb

      point m (feminine pointe, masculine plural points, feminine plural pointes)

      1. Past participle of poindre
      2. third-person singular present indicative of poindre

      Anagrams

      Etymology 2

      From Old French point, from Latin punctus.

      Noun

      point m (plural points)

      1. full stop, period (punctuation mark)
      Derived terms
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      Manx

      Etymology

      EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page as described here.

      Verb

      point (verbal noun pointeil, past participle pointit)

      1. to appoint

      Mutation

      Manx mutation
      Radical Lenition Eclipsis
      point phoint boint
      Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
      possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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      Old French

      Etymology

      Latin punctus.

      Noun

      point m (oblique plural poins, nominative singular poins, nominative plural point)

      1. a sting; a prick
      2. moment; time
      3. (on a die) dot
      4. small amount

      Adverb

      point

      1. a little
      2. (with ne) not (indicates negation)

      Verb

      point

      1. Past participle of poindre
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      Last modified on 20 June 2013, at 05:16