English - 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”).

English - Pronunciation

• enPR: point, IPA^(key): /pɔɪ̯nt/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪnt

English - 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.]
      • Sir J. Davies

        When time's first point begun / Made he all souls.

   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.]
       • Alexander Pope

         Commas and points they set exactly right.

   11. (music) A 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.
   12. (by extension) A note; a tune.
       • Sir Walter Scott

         Sound the trumpet — not a levant, or a flourish, but a point of war.

   13. A distinguishing quality or characteristic. [from 15th c.]

       Logic isn't my strong point.

   14. Something tiny, as a pinprick; a very small mark. [from 15th c.]

       The stars showed as tiny points of yellow light.

   15. (now only in phrases) A tenth; formerly also a twelfth. [from 17th c.]

       Possession is nine points of the law.

   16. Each of the marks or strokes written above letters, especially in Semitic languages, to indicate vowels, stress etc. [from 17th c.]
   17. (gaming) A unit of scoring in a game or competition. [from 18th c.]

       The one with the most points will win the game

   18. (mathematics) A decimal point (now especially when reading decimal fractions aloud). [from 18th c.]

       10.5 ("ten point five"; = ten and a half)

   19. (economics) A unit used to express differences in prices of stocks and shares. [from 19th c.]
   20. (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.]
   21. (UK) An electric power socket. [from 20th c.]
   22. (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

English - 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.
   • Shakespeare

     Now must the world point at poor Katharine.

   • Dryden

     Point at the tattered coat and ragged shoe.

   It's rude to point at other people.

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 face in a particular direction.
4. (transitive) To direct toward an object; to aim.

   to point a gun at a wolf, or a cannon at a fort

5. 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

6. (intransitive) to indicate a probability of something
7. (transitive, intransitive, masonry) To repair mortar.
8. (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.
9. (stone-cutting) To cut, as a surface, with a pointed tool.
10. (transitive) To direct or encourage (someone) in a particular direction.

    If he asks for food, point him toward the refrigerator.

    • Alexander Pope

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

11. (transitive, mathematics) To separate an integer from a decimal with a decimal point.
12. (transitive) To mark with diacritics.
13. (dated) To supply with punctuation marks; to punctuate.

    to point a composition

14. (transitive, computing) To direct the central processing unit to seek information at a certain location in memory.
15. (transitive, Internet) To direct requests sent to a domain name to the IP address corresponding to that domain name.
16. (intransitive, nautical) To sail close to the wind.

    Bear off a little, we're pointing.

17. (intransitive, hunting) To indicate the presence of game by a fixed and steady look, as certain hunting dogs do.
    • John Gay

      He treads with caution, and he points with fear.

18. (medicine, of an abscess) To approximate to the surface; to head.
19. (obsolete) To appoint.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

20. (dated) To give particular prominence to; to designate in a special manner; to point out.
    • Charles Dickens

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

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)

Derived terms

Translations

English - External Links

• point in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• point in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

English - Anagrams

• opt in, opt-in
• pinot
• pinto
• piton

French - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwɛ̃/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [pwɛ̃ɪ̃]
• Rhymes: -ɛ̃
• Homophones: poing, poings, points

French - Etymology

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

French - Anagrams

• piton

French - External Links

• “point” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Manx - Verb

point (verbal noun pointeil, past participle pointit)

1. appoint

Norman - Etymology

From Old French point, from Latin punctus.

Noun

point m (plural points)

1. (Jersey) full stop, period (punctuation mark)

Derived terms

• point d'excliamâtion (“exclamation mark”)
• point d'tchestchionn'nie (“question mark”)
• point virgule (“semicolon”)

Old French - Etymology

Latin punctus.

Old French - Noun

point m (oblique plural poinz or pointz, nominative singular poinz or pointz, nominative plural point)

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

Old French - Adverb

point

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

Old French - Verb

point

1. past participle of poindre

Polish - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pwɛnt]

Polish - Noun

point f pl

1. genitive plural of pointa

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