| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈpointing, n. Horse-racing.
[Shortened f. point-to-pointing s.v. point n.1 D. 11: cf. -ing1.]
Point-to-point or cross-country racing; steeplechasing.
1976Horse & Hound 10 Dec. 71/4 (Advt.), Proved to be a good bold hunter with great potential for pointing/eventing. 1986Sporting Life Weekender 17–19 Apr. 50/2 The Heythrop is regarded by many to be the show-case of pointing. 1987Horse Internat. Mar. 26/3 Several top horses started ‘between the flags’, not to say jockeys, and pointing now provides a lucrative market.
▪ II. pointing, vbl. n.1|ˈpɔɪntɪŋ|
[f. point v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of point v.1, or its result.
1.
†a. Pricking or marking with a pointed instrument. Obs. rare.
c1440Promp. Parv. 407/1 Poyntynge, or prykkynge, punctacio.
†b. Hunting. (concr.) The foot-print or track left by a beast. Obs.
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxiv, Þat somme man mete þer with and bloweth þe reghtes and halowes, or elles þat he fynde her poyntynge, or pryckynge.
c. The preparation of slates for roofing. ? Obs.
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 244 The Pointing of Slates..is hewing them, and making them fit for the Work.
d. Printing. Placing the sheets on the points of the press. See point n.1 B. 4.
1880Printing Times 15 Feb. 31/1 The pointing and taking-off at the machines are done by intelligent-looking boys or young men.
e. Sculpture. (See quot.) Also pointing-up.
1845Encycl. Metrop. V. 465/2 The construction of these instruments for pointing is not always the same, but the principle on which they act is exactly similar. 1883Mag. of Art Oct. 514/1 Here is done the pointing, as it is called; the marking out with mathematical accuracy upon the marble the points that shall guide the workman whose labour it is to block out from the rough..the potentiality of a statue, its rude semblance. 1947J. C. Rich Materials & Methods of Sculpture ix. 272 The process of pointing consists of marking with pencil all projections and recessions or ‘points’ on the model, which is generally a plaster cast, and making position measurements with the adjustable rods of the pointing machine, which are capable of measuring at intervals a fraction of an inch apart. 1969L. R. Rogers Sculpture vi. 199 The pointing-up in marble of clay models in a mechanical fashion by craftsmen assistants. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 68/1 Although pointing has limitations as a technique of creative sculpture, it has been used widely, especially in the 19th century.
2. a. The insertion of stops; punctuation; the marks made, or the method of punctuating.
c1440Promp. Parv. 407/1 Poyntynge, or pawsynge in redynge, punctuacio. 1579Fulke Heskins's Parl. 456, I passe ouer howe M. Heskins hath corrupted Tertullian by false pointing. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. viii. 162 The Sence..may seem to require another Pointing. 1896T. L. De Vinne Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing 420 The compositor should amend bad spelling and pointing. 1896J. Hunter Hymns Faith & Life (new ed.) Pref., Mr. B. Sykes..has revised the pointing of the Psalms and Canticles.
b. In Semitic languages: The insertion of the vowel (and other) points; the system of doing this.
1659J. Owen Integr. & Purity Hebr. & Grk. Text Wks. 1853 XVI. 376 What is the state and condition of the present Hebrew pointing. 1847J. Kirk Cloud Dispelled x. 153 In the Hebrew the sense is obscured by false pointing.
3. a. Furnishing with a point; sharpening.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1705 A finer file-wheel by which the process of pointing is finished.
b. Naut. (See quot. 1867.) Also concr. The tapered end of a rope.
1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxv. 134 The neat work upon the rigging,—the knots, Flemish eyes, splices, seizings, coverings, pointings, and graffings. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 31 Take every alternate nettle and lay along the pointing. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Pointing, the unlaying and tapering the end of a rope, and weaving some of its yarns about the diminished part.
4. The removing of points.
1879Webster Suppl. (citing Horsford.) 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Pointing, a preliminary in the preparation of grain for the mill in the modern process; it consists in rubbing off the points of the grain, clipping the brush, and removing the germ end.
5. The filling up with special strong mortar of the exterior face of the joints in brickwork; concr. the protecting facing thus given to the joints. (In the earlier quots. applied to a similar operation in reference to the tiles or slates of a roof.)
flat pointing: that in which the mortar is left even with the wall. tuck pointing: that in which the mortar slightly projects from the joints, and the lines of mortar have parallel edges contrasting in colour with the central part.
1483–5Rec. St. Mary at Hill 120 Payde to a tyler for iiij dayes & di. in poyntyng of dyuers houses. 1502–3Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 102 Pro le puyntyng super le caponhous. 1609Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 61 Item payed to Nichollas Yonger for laying the lead and for pointing of the slates, xviij d. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §228 The swell had washed some of the pointing out of the exterior joints. Ibid. §233 We took this..opportunity of carefully making good all our pointings and groutings. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 354 Pointing..consists in raking out some of the mortar from the joints, and filling them again with blue mortar. 1881Young Ev. Man his own Mechanic §1201 In building there are two kinds of pointing, distinguished as flat pointing and tuck pointing, the latter being more ornamental than the former.
6. a. The action of indicating or directing; the indication of place or direction, as with the finger or the point of anything; expression by sign or gesture, dumb show; also fig. a prompting, impulse; a hint in words.
1553Short Catech. in Lit. & Doc. Edw. VI (1844) 495 That by certain questions, as it were by pointing, the ignorant might be instructed. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 34 With sygnes and poyntinges (as the dumme are wont to speake with the dumme). 1648Boyle Seraph. Love xiii. (1700) 76 The Needle's pointing at the Poles. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. i. 181, I found by their pointing towards me..that they plainly discovered me. 1742Richardson Pamela IV. 318 One of those natural Pointings, as I may call it, that is implanted in every Creature, teaching it to chuse its Good, and to avoid its Evil. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 98 The Old Testament abounds..in pointings and approximations to it.
b. Of a yacht, etc.: The action of sailing with the prow close to the wind.
1899Daily News 17 Oct. 6/6 The Shamrock footed the faster, but the Columbia counteracted this by her superior pointing. 1901Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 6/1 The spin showed that she is not only very fast in a breeze that puts her rail awash, but that she is a wonder at pointing.
c. Of a pointer or other dog: see point v.1 11.
1877J. Gibson in Encycl. Brit. VII. 328/2 This habit [of crouching], like that of pointing, is probably..‘merely the exaggerated pause of an animal about to spring on its prey’. Ibid. 330/1 The strength of this pointing propensity.
7. The coming of an abscess to a point or head; concr. the conical head thus formed.
1858Mayne Expos. Lex., Pointing, term for the conical softish projection, of a light yellow colour, observable in an abscess when nearly ripe. 1884M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose II. 451 Tumours..which after ‘pointing’ opened spontaneously.
8. a. The disposition of the points (point n.1 B. 3 f) on a railway.
1902Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 6/2 The cause of the accident was undoubtedly an error in the pointing.
b. The disposition and colouring of the points in a cat's fur. Cf. point n.1 A. 27 c.
1978R. Hill Pinch of Snuff v. 50 The room was filled with cats..of various ages and pointings.
9. Needlework. A kind of ornamental stitch.
1888Catholic Househ. 1 Sept. 14/1 The fine needlework on muslin which includes ‘veining’, ‘stroking’, ‘pointing’ and ‘lace stitching’.
†10. Fishing. (?) The action of using the point of the rod as a means of hooking a fish: a practice followed by poachers. Sc. Obs.
1860Act 23 & 24 Vict. c. 45 §1 That it shall not be lawful..to fish for trout or other fresh water fish.. with any net,..or by striking the fish with any instrument, or by pointing. 1902Act 2 Edw. VII c. 29 §2 Fishing for trout..by what is known as double rod fishing, or cross line fishing, or set lines,..or by striking the fish..or by pointing.
11. Furs. The insertion of hairs into a pelt, usu. to repair damage or to simulate another fur. Cf. point v.1 20.
1900Fur Trade Rev. 1 May 213/2 Pointing will be one of the popular methods of enhancing the attractiveness of some of the most desirable furs. 1910Encycl. Brit. XI. 354/1 The process of inserting white hairs is called in the trade ‘pointing’, and is either done by stitching them in with a needle or by adhesive caoutchouc. 1922W. E. Austin Princ. & Pract. Fur Dressing i. 7 Badger hair is very extensively used for ‘pointing’. 1930M. Bachrach Fur xix. 275 Rubbed spots on the rumps are judged according to the damaged area, which, in the Silver Fox, can be somewhat restored to its original appearance by the process of pointing. 1936F. Grover Practical Fur Cutting & Furriery xv. 22 Pointing of furs is often resorted to, to make an imitation of another fur. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. June 597/1 Pointing refers to the practice of glueing in white hairs to improve inferior silver fox furs. 1952Lapick & Gelle Scientific Fur Servicing 4 Pointing may be detected by the fact that the badger hairs used are glued in groups of two or three to the natural fox hairs and the leather.
12. attrib. and Comb. in names of things used for pointing (see quots. and various senses of point v.1), as pointing-breed, pointing-dog, pointing-forge, pointing-trowel, pointing-wire; pointing-bone Anthrop., a bone, or apparatus consisting of bones, and usually a string made of woven hair, used by Australian Aborigines in a secret ritual to bring about the death or illness of the person at whom it is pointed; also attrib.; pointing-machine, (a) (see quot. 1875); (b) an apparatus used in sculpture for taking points; † pointing-mark = pointing-stock; † pointing-ribbon, a ribbon used as a lace or point (point n.1 B. 5); so pointing-silk; pointing-rods, rods used in the exercise of guns and mortars; pointing-stick Anthrop., a stick used for the same purpose as a pointing-bone; † pointing-stock, a person pointed at; an object of scorn, derision, or ridicule.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 956 A carrier, which takes the pin to the *pointing apparatus.
1904Spencer & Gillen Northern Tribes of Central Austral. xiv. 459 The pointing apparatus..consists of a long strand of human hair-string, to one end of which five small *pointing-bones are affixed. 1959S. H. Courtier Death in Dream Time v. 50 He..saw a piece of bone, sharp at one end, blunt at the other, and bound round the middle with strands of black fur or hair..a native pointing bone or death bone. 1965Austral. Encycl. I. 67/1 The ‘pointing bone’ sorcery (widely distributed throughout southern and central northern Australia).
1754–6Connoisseur No. 64 (1767) II. 224 [Dogs] of the *Pointing-breed.
1752Fielding Amelia v. iv, A great *Pointing-dog bit him through the Leg.
1900H. Lawson On Track 139 We would stand by his *pointing forge when he'd be sharpening picks in the early morning.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pointing-machine, one for pointing rails, pickets, matches, etc. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 571/2 Partly by eye and partly with the constant help of the pointing machine, which is used to give any required measurements, the workman almost completes the marble statue, leaving only the finishing touches to be done by the sculptor. 1947J. C. Rich Materials & Methods of Sculpture ix. 271 There is evidence that during the Late Hellenistic period the Romans used a primitive version of the pointing machine, and this mechanical device may partly account for the large number of Roman copies of Greek sculpture. 1959P. & L. Murray Dict. Art & Artists 249 A pointing machine measures the depth from a given vertical, of, for example, the receding planes of the nose of a plaster cast and transfers the measurement to a hole drilled in the marble block.
1592Kyd Murther I. Brewen Wks. (1901) 292 Suffer mee not to be a *poynting marke for others, and a shame among my neighbours.
1572in Cunningham Revels at Court (Shaks. Soc.) 19 *Poynting Ribbon of golde sylvr and sylke 102 yardes at viijd the yarde. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Trena o trença, a lace, a pointing ribbon, taenia, offendix.
1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 121 The mortar is..laid, not directly on the object, but upon two pickets, called *pointing rods.
1571Inventory in Beck Draper's Dict. 190, ij peces and ix yeardes of *pointinge silk, 6s. 8d.
1904Spencer & Gillen Northern Tribes of Central Austral. xiii. 433 A Thakomara man of the Karinji totem..had special *pointing sticks. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XIV. 629/2 He [sc. the person who has caused illness or death] can be put out of the way by means of the ‘pointing stick’ or ‘pointing bone’ made efficacious by the spells of witch or sorcerer (usually a man).
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iv. 46, I, his forlorne Duchesse, Was made a wonder, and a *pointing stock. 1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xix. 75 Not to liue pleasantly, but to be a pointing stock for the multitude, and a remembrancer of calamities.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 249 A small *Pointing Trowel, to go into sharp Angles.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Pointing-wire, an iron wire with a loop at one end, used for sighting mortars by, when the proper line of fire has once been found.
▸ pointing device n. Computing (esp. in a graphical user interface) any of various input devices such as a mouse, trackball, or joystick which may be used to control a pointer or other graphical symbols on a display screen.
1971I. W. Cotton Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 7118. 7 *Pointing devices such as light pens and tablets may be simulated by associating particular keys with screen directions (up, down, right, left) and using them to position a pointer on the screen face. 1984PC Week (Nexis) 27 Nov. 53 In painting with these programs, rather than using a brush or pen, you put your hand around a mouse or some other ‘pointing device’, including digitizing pad and joystick. 1992Amer. Way 1 Feb. 13/2 (advt.) A keyboard-controlled pointing device—called ‘KeyMouse’—eliminates the need for an external mouse or trackball. 2001Working from Home Mar. 43/2 On the outside it looks well crafted—the keyboard is spacious and well laid out and the trackpoint pointing device is easy to use.
▪ III. pointing, vbl. n.2
see point v.2
▪ IV. pointing, ppl. a.|ˈpɔɪntɪŋ|
[f. point v.1 + -ing2.]
That points, in various senses of the vb.
1630Milton Epit. Shaks. 4 Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid. 1667― P.L. i. 223 The flames Drivn backward slope their pointing spires. 1693Dryden Persius i. (1697) 408 To see The Crowd, with pointing Fingers, cry, That's he. 1880Barwell Aneurism 61 The tumor..became conical like a pointing abscess.
b. pointing doors (in a canal, etc.), two doors of a sluice closing against each other in a point or mitre, or at an angle, so as to resist the pressure of the water; pointing sills, also called pointings, the sills of such doors.
1795J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. Add. 178 A new sea sluice, with pointing doors to sea and land. Ibid., The new cut..is to be not less than four feet below the pointings of the present sluice. [A depth of ‘4 feet below the pointings’ means 4 feet below the upper surface of the sills of the lock or sluice, called pointing sills or pointings. (H. Congreve, M. Inst. C.E., Manchester.)] |