If a Falcon that carrieth poynt blancke 150 pase, at vtmost randon randge 1300 pases, I demaunde howe farre a Culuering at his vtmost randon will reach, that at poynt blancke, or leuell, rangeth 250 pase. An example of that comes from the English mathematician Thomas Digges' Arithmetical Military Treatise, 1579, asking the kind of question that might have turned up in a Tudor maths lesson (no wonder they crept like snails, unwilling to school): The expression betrays its ye-olde origins by appearing first in print in the form of 'poynt blancke'. Another interpretation is that 'point' was a verb and that 'point-blank' just meant 'pointing at the (blanc) target'. The 'point' in the term may have referred to the point of the arrow that was about to be fired - if the point coincided with the target in the archer's eyeline then the target would be hit, so long as it was within 'point-blank range'. Then, as now, it meant 'too close to miss', but the specific meaning was 'within the distance that a missile travels in a direct line, with no perceptible drop due to gravity'. What was first meant by 'point-blank range' was rather more precise than our current meaning.

'Blank' derives from the French 'blanc', which of course means white. In the Late Middle Ages, when 'point-blank' was coined, archery and artillery targets were usually white. What's the origin of the phrase 'Point-blank range'? In common usage it means' too close to miss'. Literally, point-blank range means 'close enough to go directly to a target'. Point-blank range What's the meaning of the phrase 'Point-blank range'?

Point blank definition