POINT-BLANK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Point-blank

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/pɔɪnt-blæŋk/ Listen

noun

Point-blank n.

1.

The white spot on a target, at which an arrow or other missile is aimed. (Obs.)

2.

(Mil.)

(a)

With all small arms, the second point in which the natural line of sight, when horizontal, cuts the trajectory.

(b)

With artillery, the point where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.

adjective

Point-blank adj.

1.

Directed in a line toward the object aimed at; aimed directly toward the mark.

2.

Hence, direct; plain; unqualified; said of language; as, a point-blank assertion.

Point-blank range, the extent of the apparent right line of a ball discharged.

Point-blank shot, the shot of a gun pointed directly toward the object to be hit.

adverb

Point-blank adv. In a point-blank manner. "To sin point-blank against God's word."

See images of 'Point-blank'

Etymology of 'Point-blank'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Point-blank" Quotes from Famous Books

... skull caps, frights of women utterly devoid of grace; she disturbed him ten times a day with importunate visitors, and then every evening laid out for him a dress suit and light gloves, and dragged him from drawing-room to drawing-room. You will tell me he could have rebelled, could have replied point-blank: "No!" But don't you know that the very fact of our sedentary existences leaves us more than other men dependent on domestic influence? The atmosphere of the home envelopes us, and if some touch of the ideal does not ...

— Artists' Wives • Alphonse Daudet

... Henry Luttrell. It was known that he must be getting on in life, for he had sat in the Irish Parliament, but his precise age no one knew. At length Lady Holland, whose curiosity was restrained by no considerations of courtesy, asked him point-blank—"Now, Luttrell, we're all dying to know how old you are. Just tell me." Eyeing his questioner gravely, Luttrell made answer, "It is an odd question; but as you, Lady Holland, ask it, I don't mind telling you. If I live till next year, ...

— Collections and Recollections • George William Erskine Russell

... arrived at Brussels en route from Calais to Copenhagen. The carriage was a special one and was leaving the station at a slow, preliminary rate when a youth named Sipido jumped on the foot-board of the car and fired two shots, in rapid succession, point-blank at the traveller who was just taking a cup of tea with his wife. He was about to fire a third time, but was seized by the stationmaster, arrested and sent to prison. The man turned out to be a Belgian, expressed no ...

— The Life of King Edward VII - with a sketch of the career of King George V • J. Castell Hopkins

... mark for cannon, as point-blank, equal to 800 yards. It was also the term for the white mark in the centre of a butt, at which the ...

— The Sailor's Word-Book • William Henry Smyth

... won't tell me a thing. She's shielding him. But I went through her letters and found a note from him. It's signed 'J. C.' I accused him point-blank to her and she just put her head down on her arms and sobbed. I know ...

— Tangled Trails - A Western Detective Story • William MacLeod Raine

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