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pointer |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Point \Point\, n. [F. point, and probably also pointe, L. punctum, puncta, fr pungere punctum, to prick. See {Pungent}, and cf {Puncto}, {Puncture}.] 1. That which pricks or pierces; the sharp end of anything esp. the sharp end of a piercing instrument, as a needle or a pin. 2. An instrument which pricks or pierces, as a sort of needle used by engravers, etchers, lace workers, and others also a pointed cutting tool, as a stone cutter's point; -- called also {pointer}. 3. Anything which tapers to a sharp, well-defined termination. Specifically: A small promontory or cape; a tract of land extending into the water beyond the common shore line 4. The mark made by the end of a sharp, piercing instrument, as a needle; a prick. 5. An indefinitely small space; a mere spot indicated or supposed. Specifically: (Geom.) That which has neither parts nor magnitude; that which has position, but has neither length, breadth, nor thickness, -- sometimes conceived of as the limit of a line that by the motion of which a line is conceived to be produced. 6. An indivisible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence the verge. When time's first point begun Made he all souls. --Sir J. Davies. 7. A mark of punctuation; a character used to mark the divisions of a composition, or the pauses to be observed in reading, or to point off groups of figures, etc.; a stop, as a comma, a semicolon, and esp. a period; hence figuratively, an end or conclusion. And there a point, for ended is my tale. --Chaucer. Commas and points they set exactly right --Pope. 8. Whatever serves to mark progress, rank, or relative position, or to indicate a transition from one state or position to another, degree; step; stage; hence position or condition attained; as a point of elevation, or of depression; the stock fell off five points; he won by tenpoints ``A point of precedence.'' --Selden. ``Creeping on from point to point.'' --Tennyson. A lord full fat and in good point. --Chaucer. 9. That which arrests attention, or indicates qualities or character; a salient feature; a characteristic; a peculiarity; hence a particular; an item; a detail; as the good or bad points of a man, a horse, a book, a story, etc He told him point for point, in short and plain. --Chaucer. In point of religion and in point of honor. --Bacon. Shalt thou dispute With Him the points of liberty ? --Milton. 10. Hence the most prominent or important feature, as of an argument, discourse, etc.; the essential matter; esp., the proposition to be established; as the point of an anecdote. ``Here lies the point.'' --Shak. They will hardly prove his point. --Arbuthnot. 11. A small matter; a trifle; a least consideration; a punctilio. This fellow doth not stand upon points. --Shak. [He] cared not for God or man a point. --Spenser. 12. (Mus.) A dot or mark used to designate certain tones or time; as: a (Anc. Mus.) A dot or mark distinguishing or characterizing certain tones or styles; as points of perfection, of augmentation, etc.; hence a note; a tune. ``Sound the trumpet -- not a levant, or a flourish, but a point of war.'' --Sir W. Scott. b (Mod. Mus.) A dot placed at the right hand of a note, to raise its value, or prolong its time, by one half, as to make a whole note equal to three half notes, a half note equal to three quarter notes. 13. (Astron.) A fixed conventional place for reference, or zero of reckoning, in the heavens, usually the intersection of two or more great circles of the sphere, and named specifically in each case according to the position intended; as the equinoctial points; the solstitial points; the nodal points; vertical points, etc See {Equinoctial Nodal}. 14. (Her.) One of the several different parts of the escutcheon. See {Escutcheon}. 15. (Naut.) a One of the points of the compass (see {Points of the compass}, below); also the difference between two points of the compass; as to fall off a point. b A short piece of cordage used in reefing sails. See {Reef point}, under {Reef}. 16. (Anc. Costume) A a string or lace used to tie together certain parts of the dress. --Sir W. Scott. 17. Lace wrought the needle; as point de Venise; Brussels point. See Point lace, below. 18. pl (Railways) A switch. [Eng.] 19. An item of private information; a hint; a tip; a pointer. [Cant, U. S.] 20. (Cricket) A fielder who is stationed on the off side about twelve or fifteen yards from and a little in advance of the batsman. 21. The attitude assumed by a pointer dog when he finds game; as the dog came to a point. See {Pointer}. 22. (Type Making) A standard unit of measure for the size of type bodies, being one twelfth of the thickness of pica type See {Point system of type}, under {Type}. 23. A tyne or snag of an antler. 24. One of the spaces on a backgammon board. 25. (Fencing) A movement executed with the saber or foil; as tierce point. Note: The word point is a general term, much used in the sciences, particularly in mathematics, mechanics, perspective, and physics, but generally either in the geometrical sense or in that of degree, or condition of change, and with some accompanying descriptive or qualifying term, under which in the vocabulary, the specific uses are explained; as boiling point, carbon point, dry point, freezing point, melting point, vanishing point, etc {At all points}, in every particular, completely; perfectly. --Shak. {At point}, {In point}, {At}, {In}, or On {the point}, as near as can be on the verge; about (see {About}, prep., 6); as at the point of death; he was on the point of speaking. ``In point to fall down.'' --Chaucer. ``Caius Sidius Geta, at point to have been taken recovered himself so valiantly as brought day on his side.'' --Milton. {Dead point}. (Mach.) Same as {Dead center}, under {Dead}. {Far point} (Med.), in ophthalmology, the farthest point at which objects are seen distinctly. In normal eyes the nearest point at which objects are seen distinctly; either with the two eyes together (binocular near point), or with each eye separately (monocular near point). {Nine points of the law}, all but the tenth point; the greater weight of authority. {On the point}. See {At point}, above. {Point lace}, lace wrought with the needle, as distinguished from that made on the pillow. {Point net}, a machine-made lace imitating a kind of Brussels lace (Brussels ground). {Point of concurrence} (Geom.), a point common to two lines, but not a point of tangency or of intersection, as for instance, that in which a cycloid meets its base. {Point of contrary flexure}, a point at which a curve changes its direction of curvature, or at which its convexity and concavity change sides. {Point of order}, in parliamentary practice, a question of order or propriety under the rules {Point of sight} (Persp.), in a perspective drawing, the point assumed as that occupied by the eye of the spectator. {Point of view}, the relative position from which anything is seen or any subject is considered. {Points of the compass} (Naut.), the thirty-two points of division of the compass card in the mariner's compass; the corresponding points by which the circle of the horizon is supposed to be divided, of which the four marking the directions of east, west, north, and south, are called cardinal points, and the rest are named from their respective directions, as N. by E., N. N. E., N. E. by N., N. E., etc See Illust. under {Compass}. {Point paper}, paper pricked through so as to form a stencil for transferring a design. {Point system of type}. See under {Type}. {Singular point} (Geom.), a point of a curve which possesses some property not possessed by points in general on the curve, as a cusp, a point of inflection, a node, etc {To carry one's point}, to accomplish one's object, as in a controversy. {To make a point of}, to attach special importance to {To make}, or {gain}, {a point}, accomplish that which was proposed; also to make advance by a step, grade, or position. {To mark}, or {score}, {a point}, as in billiards, cricket, etc., to note down or to make a successful hit, run, etc {To strain a point}, to go beyond the proper limit or rule to stretch one's authority or conscience. {Vowel point}, in Hebrew, and certain other Eastern and ancient languages, a mark placed above or below the consonant, or attached to it representing the vowel, or vocal sound, which precedes or follows the consonant. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Pointer \Point"er\, n. One who or that which points. Specifically: a The hand of a timepiece. b (Zo["o]l.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen. c pl (Astron.) The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star. See Illust. of {Ursa Major}. b pl (Naut.) Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: pointer n 1: a mark to indicate a direction or relation [syn: {arrow}] 2: an indicator as on a dial 3: (computer science) a movable spot of light (an icon) on a visual display; moving the cursor allows the user to point to commands or screen positions [syn: {cursor}] 4: a strong slender smooth-haired dog of Spanish origin having a white coat with brown or black patches; scents out and points game [syn: {Spanish pointer}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Pointer, KY Zip code(s): 42544 From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: 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 backwards 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)
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