Pointer

[poin-ter] /ˈpɔɪn tər/

noun
1.
a person or thing that .
2.
a long, tapering stick used by teachers, lecturers, etc., in things out on a map, blackboard, or the like.
3.
the hand on a watch dial, clock face, scale, etc.
4.
Military. the member of an artillery crew who aims the weapon.
5.
one of a breed of short-haired hunting dogs trained to game.
6.
a piece of advice, especially on how to succeed in a specific area:
The food expert gave some good pointers on making better salads.
7.
Computers. an identifier giving the location in storage of something of interest, as a data item, table, or subroutine.
8.
Pointers, Astronomy. the two outer stars of the Big Dipper that lie on a line that passes very near Polaris and are used for finding it.
/ˈpɔɪntə/
noun
1.
a person or thing that points
2.
an indicator on a measuring instrument
3.
a long rod or cane used by a lecturer to point to parts of a map, blackboard, etc
4.
one of a breed of large swift smooth-coated dogs, usually white with black, liver, or lemon markings: when on shooting expeditions it points to the bird with its nose, body, and tail in a straight line
5.
a helpful piece of information or advice
n.

mid-14c., “a tiler” (early 13c. as a surname), agent noun from point (v.). From c.1500 as “maker of needlepoint lace.” From 1570s as “thing that points;” meaning “dog that stands rigid in the presence of game, facing the quarry” is recorded from 1717. Meaning “item of advice” first recorded 1883.

noun

An item of advice or instruction: She gave me a few pointers about how to say it (1883+)

Related Terms

four-pointer

1. An address, from the point of view of a programming language. A pointer may be typed, with its type indicating the type of data to which it points.
The terms “pointer” and “reference” are generally interchangable although particular programming languages often differentiate these two in subtle ways. For example, Perl always calls them references, never pointers. Conversely, in C, “pointer” is used, although “a reference” is often used to denote the concept that a pointer implements.
Anthony Hoare once said:
Pointers are like jumps, leading wildly from one part of the data structure to another. Their introduction into high-level languages has been a step backward from which we may never recover.
[C.A.R.Hoare “Hints on Programming Language Design”, 1973, Prentice-Hall collection of essays and papers by Tony Hoare].
2. (Or “mouse pointer”) An icon, usually a small arrow, that moves on the screen in response to movement of a pointing device, typically a mouse. The pointer shows the user which object on the screen will be selected etc. when a mouse button is clicked.
(1999-07-07)