PUNCTUATIONS
Noun
punctuations
plural of punctuation
Source: Wiktionary
PUNCTUATION
Punc`tu*a"tion, n. Etym: [Cf. F. ponctuation.] (Gram.)
Definition: The act or art of punctuating or pointing a writing or
discourse; the art or mode of dividing literary composition into
sentences, and members of a sentence, by means of points, so as to
elucidate the author's meaning.
Note: Punctuation, as the term is usually understood, is chiefly
performed with four points: the period [.], the colon [:], the
semicolon [;], and the comma [,]. Other points used in writing and
printing, partly rhetorical and partly grammatical, are the note of
interrogation [], the note of exclamation [!], the parentheses [()],
the dash [--], and brackets []. It was not until the 16th century
that an approach was made to the present system of punctuation by the
Manutii of Venice. With Caxton, oblique strokes took the place of
commas and periods.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition