| Library / English Dictionary |
POINTER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A strong slender smooth-haired dog of Spanish origin having a white coat with brown or black patches; scents out and points to game
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pointer" is a kind of...):
gun dog; sporting dog (a dog trained to work with sportsmen when they hunt with guns)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pointer"):
German short-haired pointer (liver or liver-and-white hunting dog developed in Germany; 3/4 pointer and 1/4 bloodhound)
Hungarian pointer; vizsla (Hungarian hunting dog resembling the Weimaraner but having a rich deep red coat)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(computer science) indicator consisting of a movable spot of light (an icon) on a visual display; moving it allows the user to point to commands or screen positions
Synonyms:
cursor; pointer
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pointer" is a kind of...):
indicator (a device for showing the operating condition of some system)
Domain category:
computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)
Derivation:
point (indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively)
point (be positionable in a specified manner)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An indicator as on a dial
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pointer" is a kind of...):
indicator (a device for showing the operating condition of some system)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pointer"):
hand (a rotating pointer on the face of a timepiece)
electronic stylus; light pen ((computer science) a pointer that when pointed at a computer display senses whether or not the spot is illuminated)
needle (a slender pointer for indicating the reading on the scale of a measuring instrument)
Derivation:
point (indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively)
point (be positionable in a specified manner)
point (be oriented)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A mark to indicate a direction or relation
Synonyms:
arrow; pointer
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("pointer" is a kind of...):
mark (a written or printed symbol (as for punctuation))
Meronyms (parts of "pointer"):
shaft (a line that forms the length of an arrow pointer)
head; point (a V-shaped mark at one end of an arrow pointer)
Derivation:
point (indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively)
point (be positionable in a specified manner)
point (be oriented)
Context examples:
A gentleman carrying a gun, with two pointers playing round him, was passing up the hill and within a few yards of Marianne, when her accident happened.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Two young, graceful women—ladies in every point—sat, one in a low rocking-chair, the other on a lower stool; both wore deep mourning of crape and bombazeen, which sombre garb singularly set off very fair necks and faces: a large old pointer dog rested its massive head on the knee of one girl—in the lap of the other was cushioned a black cat.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The cottage seemed to be considered and loved by him as his home; many more of his hours were spent there than at Allenham; and if no general engagement collected them at the park, the exercise which called him out in the morning was almost certain of ending there, where the rest of the day was spent by himself at the side of Marianne, and by his favourite pointer at her feet.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
His heart was softened in seeing mine suffer; and so much of his ill-will was done away, that when we parted, he almost shook me by the hand while he reminded me of an old promise about a pointer puppy.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
