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A point giving advantage; vantage ground.

A joint in a stone pavement where the stones are left slightly higher than elsewhere, the rest of the surface being sunken or dished. The raised surface is intended to prevent the settling of water in the joints.

Articulation, usually that kind of articulation which admits of free motion in the joint; diarthrosis. Coxe.

er than usual, as a fess; also, having the ends of the wings turned downward towards the point of the shield.

to different foci, by a lens or mirror, of rays of light emanating from one and the same point, or the deviation of such rays from a single focus; called spherical aberration, when due to the spherical form of the lens or mirror, such form giving different foci for central and marginal rays; and chromatic aberration, w…

taste or smell, is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol (especially at the boiling point), in strong acetic acid, and in ether. Watts.

On the point or verge of; going; in act of. Paul was now aboutto open his mouth. Acts xviii. 14.

The joint or interstice between stones, to be filled with mortar. Gwilt.

One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes.

nd reckoned from the absolute zero. -- Absolute zero (Physics), the be ginning, or zero point, in the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to -273º centigrade or -459.4º Fahrenheit.

place of training in which some special art is taught; as, the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music. Academy figure (Paint.), a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model.

A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.

lor which often result from the contemplation of actually colored bodies. -- Accidental point (Persp.), the point in which a right line, drawn from the eye, parallel to a given right line, cuts the perspective plane; so called to distinguish it from the principal point, or point of view, where a line drawn from the ey…

. Shak. It [the moon] is fully accomplished for all those ends to which Providence did appoint it. Wilkins. These qualities . . . go to accomplish a perfect woman. Cowden Clarke.

A unit; a single point or spot on a card or die; the card or die so marked; as, the ace of diamonds.

Needle-shaped, having a sharp, rigid point, as the leaf of the pine.

Free from color; colorless; as, in Physiol. Chem., the achromic point of a starch solution acted upon by an amylolytic enzyme is the point at which it fails to give any color with iodine.

shaped; slender like a needle or bristle, as some leaves or crystals; also, having sharp points like needless. A*cic"u*lar*ly, adv.

The top or highest point; the culmination. The very acme and pitch of life for epic poetry. Pope. The moment when a certain power reaches the acme of its supremacy. I. Taylor.

An isolated point not upon a curve, but whose coördinates satisfy the equation of the curve so that it is considered as belonging to the curve.