pointing (n.)

late 14c., "the act of replacing or filling up the mortar in the exterior faces of joints in stone- or brickwork," verbal noun from point (v.). Also from late 14c. as "pricking;" the sense of "process of attaching pieces of thread lace as a fringe or border" is from mid-15c. Meaning "action of indicating or directing with the finger, etc." is from 1550s.