||Poin*set"ti*a (poin*st"t*), n. [NL. Named after Joel R. Poinsett of
||South Carolina.] (Bot.) A Mexican shrub (Euphorbia pulcherrima) with
||very large and conspicuous vermilion bracts below the yellowish
||flowers.
Point (point), v. t. & i. To appoint. [Obs.] Spenser.
Point, n. [F. point, and probably also pointe, L. punctum, puncta, fr.
pungere, punctum, to prick. See Pungent, and cf. Puncto, Puncture.] 1.
That which pricks or pierces; the sharp end of anything, esp. the sharp
end of a piercing instrument, as a needle or a pin.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The mark made by the end of a sharp, piercing instrument, as a
needle; a prick.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.