Torrent of Portugal, p

36. ( Hall i well.) 11. A mark made by the end of a sharp instrument, such as a pin, needle, pen, etc.; a dot or other sign to mark separation, to measure from, etc. Specifically-( a ) A mark of punctuation; a character used to mark the divisions of composition, or the pauses to be observed in reading or speaking, as the comma (,), the semicolon (;), the colon (:), and especially the period or full stop (.). There abruptly it did end, Without full point , or other Cesure right. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 68. IMG:content-0530.png:[blocks in formation] units' place to show where the decimals begin (specifically called a decimal point ); or (2) placed over a repeating decimal, or over the first and last figures of a circulating decimal: thus,=.83; 3 = 1.2567; or (3) used to separate a series of figures representing a number into periods of a certain number of figures each. (e) Iu musical notation , a dot affixed to a note, either after it, to increase its time value (see dot ), or above or below it, as a sign of a staccato effect (see staccato ). (f) A speck or spot; a jot; a trace; hence, figuratively, a very small quantity. Thei cowde not in hym espi no poynte of covetise. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 106. 12. An object having position but not extension. (a) A place having spatial position but no size; the uninterrupted common limit of four three-dimensional spaces. We sometimes speak of space, or do suppose a point in it, at such a distance from any part of the universe. Locke. All rays proceeding from a point pa through a single point after reflexion, because they undergo a change in their direction greater in proportion as the point of the mirror struck is distant from the principal axis. Lommel, Light (trans.), p. 42. (b) In astron ,, a certain place marked in the heavens, or distinguished for its importance in astronomical calculations: as, vertical points (the zenith and the nadir); equinoctial points ; solstitial points . (c) In persp ., any definitive position with reference to the perspective plane: as, point of sight; vanishing- point . (d) That which has position in time, but no definite continuance; an instant of time. And a-noon as he was comen his felowes recouered that were in pointe to leve place. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 459. The period of his [Henry V.'s) acce ion is described as a point of time at which his character underwent some sort of change. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 645. 13. Precise limit or degree; especially, the precise degree of temperature: as, the boiling point of water. 11 POINT. 12 POINT. The type-founder of Paris. As made by him, point was not a regular fraction of any legally prescribed measure. François-Ambroise Didot readjusted this point as a fraction of the standard royal foot, in which form it was gradually accepted by the printing-trades of France and Germany. The American point was adopted by the United States Type-Founders' A ociation in 1883, and made of smaller size, to prevent a too marked disturbance of the sizes then in regular use. The old names of types and their relation to each other are shown by the number of points a igned to each size in the following table: IMG:content-0531.png:[blocks in formation] (c) Naut . , an angular unit, one eighth of a right angle, or 114, being the angle between adjacent points of the compa (see compa , n., 7): as, to bring the ship up half a point .