Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
POINT
I. noun see: pungent
Date: 13th century
1. a. an individual detail ; item , a distinguishing detail , the most important essential in a discussion or matter , cogency , physical condition, an end or object to be achieved ; purpose ,
4. a geometric element that has zero dimensions and a location determinable by an ordered set of coordinates, b. a narrowly localized place having a precisely indicated position , a particular place ; locality , c. an exact moment , a time interval immediately before something indicated ; verge , d. a particular step, stage, or degree in development , a definite position in a scale,
5. the terminal usually sharp or narrowly rounded part of something ; tip , a weapon or tool having such a part and used for stabbing or piercing: as, arrowhead , spearhead , c. the contact or discharge extremity of an electric device (as a spark plug or distributor), an electric outlet,
6. a projecting usually tapering piece of land or a sharp prominence, b. the tip of a projecting body part, tine 2, the extremities or markings of the extremities of an animal especially when of a color differing from the rest of the body, a railroad switch, the head of the bow of a stringed instrument, a short musical phrase,
8. a very small mark, b. punctuation mark , decimal point , a lace for tying parts of a garment together used especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, one of usually 11 divisions of a heraldic shield that determines the position of a charge, 1
1. one of the 32 equidistant spots of a compass card for indicating direction, the difference of 11 1/4 degrees between two such successive points, a direction indicated by a compass point , a small detachment ahead of an advance guard or behind a rear guard, 1
3. needlepoint 1, lace made with a bobbin, one of 12 spaces marked off on each side of a backgammon board, a unit of measurement: as, a. a unit of counting in the scoring of a game or contest, a unit used in evaluating the strength of a bridge hand, a unit of academic credit, c. a unit used in quoting prices (as of stocks, bonds, and commodities), a percentage of the face value of a loan often added as a placement fee or service charge, a percentage of the profits of a business venture (as a motion-picture production), a unit of about {frac1/72} inch used especially to measure the size of type, the action of pointing: as, the rigidly intent attitude of a hunting dog marking game for a gunner, the action in dancing of extending one leg and arching the foot so that only the tips of the toes touch the floor, a position of a player in various games (as lacrosse), a number thrown on the first roll of the dice in craps which the player attempts to repeat before throwing a seven, credit accruing from creating a good impression ,
II. verb
Date: 14th century
transitive verb
1. to furnish with a point ; sharpen , to give added force, emphasis, or piquancy to , to scratch out the old mortar from the joints of (as a brick wall) and fill in with new material,
3. a. to mark the pauses or grammatical divisions in ; punctuate , to separate (a decimal fraction) from an integer by a decimal point, to mark (as Hebrew words) with diacritics (as vowel points),
4. a. to indicate the position or direction of especially by extending a finger , to direct someone's attention to , to indicate the presence and place of (game) by a point,
5. to cause to be turned in a particular direction , to extend (a leg) and arch (the foot) in executing a point in dancing, intransitive verb
1. to indicate the fact or probability of something specified , to indicate the position or direction of something especially by extending a finger , to direct attention , to point game ,
2. to lie extended, aimed, or turned in a particular direction , to execute a point in dancing, to sail close to the wind, to train for a particular contest