POINT-BLANK


Meaning of POINT-BLANK in English

adjective [ only before noun ]

1.

( of a shot ) fired with the gun touching or very close to the person or thing it is aimed at :

The officer was shot dead at point-blank range .

2.

( of sth that is said ) very definite and direct and not very polite

SYN blunt :

a point-blank refusal

►  ˌpoint-ˈblank adverb :

She fired point-blank at his chest.

He refused point-blank to be photographed.

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WORD ORIGIN

late 16th cent.: probably from point + blank in the contemporaneous sense white spot in the centre of a target .

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.