point (redirected from near point)

point

(1) To move the cursor onto a line or image on screen by rolling a mouse across the desk or by pressing the arrow keys.

(2) In typography, a unit equal to 1/72nd of an inch, used to measure the vertical height of a printed character.

---

point

1. short for vowel point

2. a pin, needle, or other object having such a point

3. Maths

a. a geometric element having no dimensions and whose position in space is located by means of its coordinates

b. a location

4. a promontory, usually smaller than a cape

5. a distinctive characteristic or quality of an animal, esp one used as a standard in judging livestock

6. any of the extremities, such as the tail, ears, or feet, of a domestic animal

7. Ballet the tip of the toes

8. Australian Rules football an informal name for behind

9. Navigation

a. one of the 32 marks on the circumference of a compass card indicating direction

b. the angle of 11°15ʹ between two adjacent marks

c. a point on the horizon indicated by such a mark

10. Cricket

a. a fielding position at right angles to the batsman on the off side and relatively near the pitch

b. a fielder in this position

11. any of the numbers cast in the first throw in craps with which one neither wins nor loses by throwing them: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10

12. either of the two electrical contacts that make or break the current flow in the distributor of an internal-combustion engine

13. Brit a junction of railway tracks in which a pair of rails can be moved so that a train can be directed onto either of two lines

14. a piece of ribbon, cord, etc., with metal tags at the end: used during the 16th and 17th centuries to fasten clothing

15. Backgammon a place or position on the board

16. Brit

a. short for power point

b. an informal name for socket

17. the position of the body of a pointer or setter when it discovers game

18. Boxing a mark awarded for a scoring blow, knockdown, etc.

19. Ice hockey the position just inside the opponents' blue line

---

point - 1. (Sometimes abbreviated "pt") The unit of length used in typography to specify text character height, rule width, and other small measurements. There are six slightly different definitions: Truchet point, Didot point, ATA point, TeX point, Postscript point, and IN point. In Europe, the most commonly used is Didot and in the US, the formerly standard ATA point has essentially been replaced by the PostScript point due to the demise of traditional typesetting systems and rise of desktop computer based systems running software such as QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Pagemaker. There are 20 twips in a point and 12 points in a pica (known as a "Cicero" in the Didot system). Different point systems.