Poikilothermal
(Poi`ki*lo*ther"mal) Poikilothermic
(Poi`ki*lo*ther"mic) a. [Gr. poiki`los changeable +
E. thermal, thermic.] (Physiol.) Having a varying body temperature. See Homoiothermal.
Poikilothermous
(Poi`ki*lo*ther"mous) a. (Physiol.) Poikilothermal.
Poinciana
(||Poin`ci*a"na) n. [NL. Named after M. de Poinci, a governor of the French West Indies.]
(Bot.) A prickly tropical shrub (Cæsalpinia, formerly Poinciana, pulcherrima), with bipinnate leaves, and
racemes of showy orange-red flowers with long crimson filaments.
The genus Poinciana is kept up for three trees of Eastern Africa, the Mascarene Islands, and India.
Poind
(Poind) v. t. [See Pound to confine.]
1. To impound, as cattle. [Obs. or Scot.] Flavel.
2. To distrain. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.
Poinder
(Poind"er) n.
1. The keeper of a cattle pound; a pinder. [Obs. or Scot.] T. Adams.
2. One who distrains property. [Scot.] Jamieson.
Poinsettia
(||Poin*set"ti*a) n. [NL. Named after Joel R. Poinsett of South Carolina.] (Bot.) A Mexican
shrub (Euphorbia pulcherrima) with very large and conspicuous vermilion bracts below the yellowish
flowers.
Point
(Point) v. t. & i. To appoint. [Obs.] Spenser.
Point
(Point), n. [F. point, and probably also pointe, L. punctum, puncta, fr. pungere, punctum, to
prick. See Pungent, and cf. Puncto, Puncture.]
1. That which pricks or pierces; the sharp end of anything, esp. the sharp end of a piercing instrument,
as a needle or a pin.
2. An instrument which pricks or pierces, as a sort of needle used by engravers, etchers, lace workers,
and others; also, a pointed cutting tool, as a stone cutter's point; — called also pointer.
3. Anything which tapers to a sharp, well- defined termination. Specifically: A small promontory or cape; a
tract of land extending into the water beyond the common shore line.
4. The mark made by the end of a sharp, piercing instrument, as a needle; a prick.
5. An indefinitely small space; a mere spot indicated or supposed. Specifically: (Geom.) That which
has neither parts nor magnitude; that which has position, but has neither length, breadth, nor thickness,
— sometimes conceived of as the limit of a line; that by the motion of which a line is conceived to be
produced.
6. An indivisible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence, the verge.
When time's first point begun
Made he all souls.
Sir J. Davies.
