Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: BUILDINGS

point

2 verb
     
point2
1

show something with your finger

[intransitive and transitive] to show something to someone by holding up one of your fingers or a thin object towards it:
'Look!' she said and pointed.
point at
I could see him pointing at me and telling the other guests what I had said.
point to/towards
She was pointing to a small boat that was approaching the shore.
point with
The driver pointed with his whip.
He stood up and pointed his finger at me.
2

aim something

[transitive always + adverb/preposition] to hold something so that it is aimed towards a person or thing
point something at somebody/something
He stood up and pointed his gun at the prisoner.
She produced a camera and pointed it at me.
3

face in one direction

[intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to face or be aimed in a particular direction:
The arrow always points north.
There were flashlights all around us, pointing in all directions.
point at
There were TV cameras pointing at us.
point to/towards
The hands of the clock pointed to a quarter past one.
We found footprints pointing towards the back door.
4

show somebody where to go

[transitive always + adverb/preposition] to show someone which direction they should go in:
She pointed me towards an armchair.
Could you point me in the direction of the bathroom, please?
5

suggest what somebody should do

[transitive always + adverb/preposition] to suggest what someone should do:
My teachers were all pointing me towards university.
A financial adviser should be able to point you in the right direction.
6

suggest that something is true

[intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to suggest that something is true:
Everything seemed to point in one direction.
point to/towards
All the evidence pointed towards Blake as the murderer.
Everything points to her having died from a drugs overdose.
7

walls/buildings

[transitive] British EnglishTBB to put new cement between the bricks of a wall
8

point your toes

APD to stretch the ends of your feet downwards
9

point the/a finger at somebody

to blame someone or say that they have done something wrong:
I knew that they would point the finger at me.
I don't want to point a finger of blame at anyone.
10

point the way

a) to show the direction that something is in
point the way to/towards
An old-fashioned signpost pointed the way to the restaurant.
b) to show how something could change or develop successfully
point the way forward/forwards
This report points the way forward for the water industry.
point the way to/towards
a government paper which points the way towards reform

point something ↔ out

phrasal verb
1 to tell someone something that they did not already know or had not thought about:
He was always very keen to point out my mistakes.
The murder was obviously well planned, as the inspector had pointed out.
point out that
Some economists have pointed out that low inflation is not necessarily a good thing.
point something out to somebody
Thank you for pointing this out to me.
2 to show something to someone by pointing at it:
Luke pointed out two large birds by the water's edge.
point somebody/something out to somebody
I'll point him out to you if we see him.

point to something

phrasal verb
to mention something because you think it is important:
Many politicians have pointed to the need for a written constitution.

point something ↔ up

phrasal verb
to make something seem more important or more noticeable:
These cases point up the complete incompetence of some government departments.
Definition of point from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic BUILDINGS
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