pointing

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In printing, the operation of making points in paper as guides to exact register.
• noun The art of indicating the divisions of a writing; punctuation.
• noun The marks or points made, or the system of marks employed, in punctuation.
• noun The act of removing mortar from between the joints of a stone or brick wall, and replacing it with new mortar; also, the material with which the joints are refilled.
• noun In sculpture, the operation of marking off into regular spaces by points the surface of a plaster or clay model, preliminary to reproducing it in marble, as well as the reproduction of these points on the marble block.
• noun In milling, the first treatment of grain in the high-milling process.
• noun In chanting, the act, process, or result of indicating exactly how the words shall be adapted to the music, or of making such an adaptation.
• noun The conical softish projection, of a light-yellow color, observable in an abscess when nearly ripe. Thomas, Med. Dict.
• noun Nautical, the operation of tapering the end of a rope and covering the tapered portion with the yarns that have not been removed for tapering.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of sharpening.
• noun The act of designating, as a position or direction, by means of something pointed, as a finger or a rod.
• noun The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.
• noun The act of filling and finishing the joints in masonry with mortar, cement, etc.; also, the material so used.
• noun The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.
• noun (Sculpt.) 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb Present participle of point.
• noun The action of the verb to point.
• noun usually singular or collective Mortar that has been placed between bricks to hold them together. This is not strictly speaking correct word to use in this context, mortar would be the correct word, or joint filling. (or perhaps applies in the US only) This term is often misused as meaning mortar or joint filling, as 'repointing' is the action of making good and repairing of joints between stone.
• noun The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.
• noun The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.
• noun 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.