Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that directs, indicates, or points.
- n. A scale indicator on a watch, balance, or other measuring instrument.
- n. A long tapered stick for indicating objects, as on a chart or blackboard.
- n. Any of a breed of hunting dogs that points game, typically having a smooth, short-haired coat that is usually white with black or brownish spots.
- n. A piece of advice; a suggestion.
- n. A piece of indicative information: interest rates and other pointers in the economic forecast.
- n. Computer Science A variable that holds the address of a core storage location.
- n. Computer Science A symbol appearing on a display screen in a GUI that lets the user select a command by clicking with a pointing device or pressing the enter key when the pointer symbol is positioned on the appropriate button or icon.
- n. Either of the two stars in the Big Dipper that are aligned so as to point to Polaris.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who or that which points. Specifically— One of the hands of a clock or watch; the index-hand of a circular barometer, anemometer, or the like.
- n. plural With the definite article, the two stars of the constellation Ursa Major which guide the eye of the observer to the pole-star.
- n. A light pole with a black ball on the end of it, used at the masthead of a whaler when the boats are down.
- n. Nautical, one of the pieces of timber fixed fore-and-aft, and diagonally inside of a vessel's run or quarter, to connect the stern-frame with the after-body. See counter,4. Also called snake-piece.
- n. A pointed tool; especially, one used for cutting, graving, boring, and the like: a term common to many trades: as, a stone-cutters' pointer; a silversmiths' pointer.
- n. A tool used by bricklayers for clearing out the old mortar in pointing brickwork.
- n. The lever of a railroad-switch.
- n. In printing, the workman who adjusts sheets by means of the point-holes on a press.
- n. A hint; an indication; a point; an item of information which may be used with advantage: as, pointers in a race or a game.
- n. See the extract and silker.
- n. Same as gun-pointer.
- n. One of a pair of bullocks yoked ahead of the pole-bullocks. See the extract.
- n. In surveying, particularly hydrographic surveying, a plotting-instrument comprising a graduated circle with three projecting radial arms capable of being set at given angular distances apart: used for the purpose of determining on a map the unknown position of a point or station by the three-point problem.
Wiktionary
- n. Anything that points or is used for pointing.
- n. A needle-like component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.
- n. A breed of hunting dog.
- n. programming A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.
- n. computing An icon that indicates the position of the mouse; a cursor.
- n. A tip, a bit of advice (usually plural.)
- n. in combinations Something worth a given number of points.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The hand of a timepiece.
- n. (Zoöl.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.
- n. (Astron.) The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star.
- n. (Naut.) Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a strong slender smooth-haired dog of Spanish origin having a white coat with brown or black patches; scents out and points to game
- n. a mark to indicate a direction or relation
- n. (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
- n. an indicator as on a dial
Etymologies
- point + -er. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“He don't usually bet unless he has got a sure thing, but when he gets what they call a pointer, that is, somebody tells him a certain horse is sure to win, because the other horses are to be pulled back, he thinks a job has been put up, and if he thinks he is on the inside of the ring he will bet.”
The Grocery Man And Peck's Bad Boy Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa, No. 2 - 1883
“Thanks Rick, I'm quite behind on my RSS feeds so a pointer is always useful.”
Open data, the BBC, and 'the virality and interconnectedness of the web'
“The 62 pointer is officially a 92+ on the Parker site, FYI.”
Spot the 62 pointer - Viu 1 from Chile - and some Spanish | Dr Vino's wine blog
“Comparing a hound to a retriever to a pointer is tough to do.”
“She put back a missed shot, assisted on a basket by Kalana Greene, drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key, nailed a jumper from the foul line and then scored on a drive.”
“Aaron Brooks hit a free throw before Fernandez swished a three-pointer from the corner.”
“Salmons then hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 8.6 seconds to go, giving the Bucks new life.”
“Iguodala nailed a three-pointer from the corner just before the shot clock expired to start the third.”
“I am not a big believer in spread measurments because it's just thin air between the beams, but the spread on that eight-pointer is breathtaking.”
Girl Next Door Tags Monster Suburban Eight-Point Buck Next Door
“Another buck, larger than the first, a 9-pointer, is 20 yards away and walking straight towards my tree stand.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pointer’.
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dogs and their relatives
dog dogs and more dogs anything
I can think of ,canids and their
relatives
my favourite African wild dog
all have 42 teethaffenpinscher, akita, alan, aland, alant, alopecoid, apso, bandog, barbet, basenji, basset, bawtie and 355 more...
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schnoz
Nose-related words
quidnunc, conk, philtrum, snub, aquiline, Roman, Greek, Nubian, button, honker, sniffer, pointer and 7 more...
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Programming Jargon
Stuff that comes up all the time at work.
continuation, data structure, node, closure, compiler, funarg problem, garbage collection, pointer, anonymous function, block, currying, first-class function and 63 more...
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Out to Sea
If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat.boat, ship, skiff, barge, canoe, catamaran, yacht, scow, lifeboat, launch, ketch, dory and 303 more...
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Programming
class, function, method, instance, value, variable, boolean, if, else, while, for, elseif and 95 more...
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Bookworm
patrimony, salivates, bloviate, voile, cholo, tipples, golfed, gynecology, tolerate, miscreants, harries, cougar and 58 more...
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a few programming words
a few Programming words
syntax, function, method, variable, scalar, perl, java, c++, hash, regular expression, operator, evaluate and 20 more...
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Technofancy
chipset, kernel, motherboard, network, bios, microprocessor, ram, rom, register, pipelining, smartphone, programmable and 24 more...
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Prince of Parties
Some alternatives to calling it your 'D'.
Nebuchadnezzar, Old Adam, Old Horney, Old Man, Lady's Treasure, Lady-ware, Lamp of Life, Creamstick, Lance, Leather Stretcher, Love's Picklock, Love Apples and 87 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pointer.

qroqqa Mislaid Red Indian Mickey Mouse America
Pointered us from campground to campground –
We were two of many.
—Ted Hughes, 'The 59th Bear', Birthday Letters
Nonce use as v. It also occurs to me now that 'campground' seems unusual: I would say 'camping-ground', and indeed OED marks it as U.S. Jan 7, 2009