pointer

Etymology

point + -er

noun

1. Anything that points or is used for pointing.
2. (rare) One who points.
   The man he addressed drew back in horror, but answered the musketeer’s words by pointing his finger. Athos offered the man a half pistole to accompany him, but the man refused. Athos went down the street that the pointer had indicated to him with his finger; […] 2006, Alexandre Dumas, translated by Richard Pevear, The Three Musketeers, Viking, pages 645–646
   “Hey,” the finger pointer said, re-pointing his finger at Joe, “are you a joke or what?” / “I don't think I'm a joke.” / “Well I think you're a joke.” He dropped his hand and then lifted it again and pointed his finger at Joe's chest. 2010, Donald Junkins, Half Hitch, iUniverse
   One man pointed his finger at another, nearly poking the tip of it into the man’s chest. I sidled closer and heard the pointer accuse the other man of cheating. 2020, J.M. Griffin, Who’s Dead, Doc?, Kensington Books
3. A teacher's pointer, pointing stick, a rod with an arrow.
4. A needle-like component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.
5. (hunting) A breed of hunting dog, trained to point out game.
   Most of the early wirehaired pointers represented a combination of Griffon, Stichelhaar, Pudelpointer, and German Shorthair. The Pudelpointer was a cross between a Poodle dog and an English Pointer bitch; the Griffon and the Stichelhaar were composed of Pointer, Foxhound, Pudelpointer, and a Polish water dog. 2007, American Kennel Club, The Complete Dog Book, Ballantine Books, page 30
6. (programming) A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.
   I do consider assignment statements and pointer variables to be among computer science's "most valuable treasures." 1974, Donald Knuth, “Structured Programming with go to Statements”, in Computing Surveys, volume 6, number 5, →DOI, archived from the original on 2009-08-24, pages 261–301
7. (graphical user interface) An icon that indicates the position of the pointing device, such as a mouse.
   The system notifies the user of the progress of a task by changing the appearance of the pointer. System-busy pointers usually adopt a timepiece metaphor. 1995, Aaron Marcus, Nick Smilonich, Lynne Thompson, The Cross-GUI Handbook, Addison-Wesley, page 231
8. (chiefly in the plural) A tip, a bit of advice.
   The instructor gave me some pointers on writing a good paper.
   In a paper to the Institute of Locomotive Engineers on February 17 which ranged over the whole subject of auxiliary services on London Transport rolling stock, Mr. R. I. D. Arthurton, Mechanical Engineer (Development—Railways) London Transport Board, gave some pointers to the future on the Victoria Line and elsewhere. 1964 April, “News and Comment: Auxiliaries in LT stock”, in Modern Railways, page 234
9. Something that gives a point (sharp end) to something.
   pencil pointer
10. (in combinations) Something worth a given number of points.
    a ten-pointer
    After another penalty miss, Kvirikashvili finally found the target on 27 minutes before Flood hit back with a three-pointer of his own. September 18, 2011, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport