| point of departure | |
noun | |
| 1. | a place from which an enterprise or expedition is launched; "one day when I was at a suitable jumping-off place I decided to see if I could find him"; "my point of departure was San Francisco" [syn: jumping-off place] |
| 2. | a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own"; "reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions"; "the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out" [syn: springboard] |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |