biting point

Noun

biting point (plural biting points)

1. The point where the clutch engages when the pedal is released.
   • Tight clutch control is needed, so keep the clutch pedal just above the biting point.2005, Driving Standards Agency, Driving: The Essential Skills, page 68
   • To stop rolling backward on a hill, he instructed, depress both the clutch and brake pedals, put the car into gear, release the hand brake, and then lift the foot off the clutch until the biting point is found.2021, Silent Freedom

   Synonyms:

   bite point

2. (broadly) The precise position at which a control mechanism as been moved just enough to cause a device to operate.
   • The slipping set screw is a source of much trouble when due to lack of proper biting point.1903 September, R, “A Talk on Set Screws”, in Modern Machinery, volume 14, number 3, page 81
   • The 'biting point' needs to be found when the keys are depressed past the point of escapement, a characteristic that varies widely in distance and reliability across different pianos.2016, Vanessa Hawes, Lauren Redhead, Music and/as Process, page 112
3. (figuratively) The point or set of circumstances when a particular action can begin or a critical transition can occur.
   • And here is the biting point: If you understand clearly “what” God has been doing in your life to date and “where” He has been leading your feet (and I don't mean physical feet) to date, you will be in the most critical position to […]2011, Charles Kofi Fekpe, Diamonds in Eden, page 118
   • Once, twice, three times she tried – but there was no biting point. There was only a vague, achy sense of evasion as her retinas strained to accomplish her mind's desire, and failed.2015, Nick Coleman, Pillow Man, page 109
4. The level of aggravation that causes someone or something to lash out or bite.
   • Sometimes the Princess would appear with the lead and take one of the others out, often Maisie, and I would hate whoever had gone in my place, filled to biting-point with envy that built up and built up in the long wait imagining someone else's pleasure.1901, Jean Gill, True Colours: Box set of six books
   • Unless they are attacked or unless they are intercepted in their progress towards their hole they apparently prefer to make away from, rather than to attack, man or animals; and it may be assumed that the quiet movements of grazing animals do not excite them to the biting point.1909 March 10, S. S. Cameron, “Diseases of Farm Animals”, in The Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Victoria, volume 7, page 158
5. The position of the jaw where the upper and lower teeth meet during a bite
   • The use of the resultant biting-point can be incorporated with any technique of building complete dentures.1962, Meyer M. Silverman, Occlusion in Prosthodontics and in the Natural Dentition, page 76
   • The muscle combinations that must be active to generate the biting force differ depending on the size of the fish, size of the prey, position of the biting point and direction of the biting force.1993, Felicity Anne Huntingford, Behavioural Ecology of Fishes, page 123
6. The location where something is bitten.
   • After a few generations of such treatment it is noticed that in the puppies' tails there is indicated the exact spot at which they should be bitten off. The cartilage in the tail is merely rudimentary beyond the biting point.1900, “Are Acquired Characteristics transmitted?”, in Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette, volume 15, page 283
   • There is a sudden sharp pain. It's biting me. I try to scream but my throat merely coughs up bile. I struggle to keep it down. Then a wave of warmth spreads out from the biting point. Up my arm and into the rest of me.2014, Gary J Byrnes, Thriller Box Set
7. The point of a blade or similar item where it begins to bite or penetrate.
   • Jeremiah jumped aside and just cleared the biting point.2016, Beth Trissel, The Traitor's Legacy Series
   • Files of legionaries from the outsides of each cohort raced to its middle, gradually building up, evenly, so that protrusions of men appeared, lessening until at the tip there was the primus pilus of the cohort, acting as the biting point of the wedge.2016, Robert Fabbri, The Furies of Rome