Point.
1. (Bricklaying.) To fill the joints of [1758] masonry, brickwork, tiling, slating, etc., with mortar, pressed in by the point of the trowel. When the mortar of a brick building, by exposure to the air, has become rotten or has fallen out at the surface of the joints, the space is pointed or filled with mortar, pressed in, and made flush with the surface of the bricks. When the joint receives a line of white paint to make it more conspicuous, it is said to be penciled. Filling up the joint with fresh mortar, leaving it flush, is flat-joint pointing. If plaster be inserted in the joints with a regular projection, and neatly pared to a parallel breadth, it is called tuck-pointing or tuck-joint pointing.
2. (Masonry.) a. The stone-mason's punch, used in the reduction of the face of the stone, leaving it in narrow ridges, which are dressed down by the inch-tool. See stone-workers' tools. b. A pointed chisel for nigging ashlar.
3. (Nautical.) a. One of the 32 divisions into which the circumference of the horizon and the mariner's compass are divided, each comprehending 11° 15′. See mariner's compass. b. A flat piece of braided cordage attached to the reef-band of a sail to tie up a reef. See reef-point. c. To prepare the end of a rope so that it may reeve through a block and not unlay. A few yarns are taken out and a mat worked over it by its own yarn. d. To brace a yard so as to bring it end on to the wind.
 |
| Plow-point. |
 |
| Drive-well point. |
4. (Plow.) The extreme forward end of the share as distinguished from the wing. 5. A railway switch. 6. The lower end of a driven-well tube.
7. (Bookbinding.) A register mark made by the printer in aligning his sheet on the tympan and forming a guide to the folder.
8. (Engraving.) The etching-needle of an engraver. 9. A fragment of diamond containing a natural angle adapted for glass-cutters' uses. Fragments which are to be made into powder for the lapidary are called bort.
10. (Knitting-machine.) Beardless needles; also known as shifter (which see). 11. Lace wrought by the needle.
12. (Machinery.) Position in relation to power or accessory portions; as, — The dead point of a crank. The fixed point on which a body moves. The point of suspension of a balance, etc.
13. (Perspective.) That part on the drawing sheet to which lines converge; as, the accidental or vanishing point, the point of distance, the point of sight.
14. (Physics.) a. A line of demarcation or limit; as, — The boiling point of a liquid. The melting point of a solid. See fusing-point. The evaporating point, as of water. b. Said also of instruments; as, — The freezing point of a thermometer. The dew point on a hygrometer, etc.
15. (Turning.) A lathe center.
16. (Printing.) One of the pins placed on the tympan or feed-board of a printing-press, to perforate the sheet at the time of the first printing to secure a register when the sheet is turned. The points are generally covered by a perforated spring plate at the first feeding, and the sheet fed by a guide. After the sheet is punctured, it is laid on so that the points pass through the same holes. Perfecting-presses sometimes use points to perforate the printed sheets, and the point-holes serve as guides for feeding to a folding-machine. Campbell's single-cylinder book-press is provided with electric points, and the electric circuit must be completed by bringing the perforations over the needles before the feeding can go on.
17. (Harness.) A short strap stitched to a wide one for the purpose of attaching the latter to another strap by a buckle. The end of any strap that is provided with holes for the buckle-tongue.
18. (Fortification.) The junction of certain lines of defense, as the point of the bastion, the salient angle formed by its meeting faces; the point of intersection of the curtain and the flank; the point at the shoulder of the bastion, etc.
19. (Ordnance.) To lay a gun, including the direction and elevation.
