in poynt to
Middle English edit
Phrase edit
- (with infinitive verb) on the brink of, on the verge of, about to
- c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1440–1450 in Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 16, folio 130r:
- Al is ylyche goode to me / Ioy or sorowe wherso hyt be / For I haue felynge in no thynge / But as it were a mased thynge / Alway in poynt to falle a down
- Everything is equally good to me— / Joy or sorrow, however it might be— / For I feel nothing about anything, / But am like some dazed thing, / Always on the brink of falling down.
- c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1440–1450 in Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 16, folio 130r:
References edit
- “pointe, n., 5b.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2023-11-14.