pointing

Etymology

point + -ing

noun

1. The action of the verb to point.
   For the sake of convenience, we may call these pointings or signifyings the secondary phase of meaning. 1939, Coleman Roberts Griffith, Psychology Applied to Teaching and Learning
2. The filling of joints in brickwork or masonry with mortar.
   The necessary works were extensive and included replacing missing and damaged slates and other roof repairs (in order to make the building watertight), pointing and drainpipe replacement, and extensive replacement of rotten floorboarding. December 15 2021, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Southeastern Commercial Restoration Award: Appledore”, in RAIL, number 946, pages 56–57
3. (usually singular or collective, sometimes proscribed) Mortar that has been placed between bricks to fill the gap.
4. The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.
5. The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.
6. (art) The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.

verb

1. present participle and gerund of point