pointer

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that directs, indicates, or points.
2. n. A scale indicator on a watch, balance, or other measuring instrument.
3. n. A long tapered stick for indicating objects, as on a chart or blackboard.
4. 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.
5. n. A piece of advice; a suggestion.
6. n. A piece of indicative information: interest rates and other pointers in the economic forecast.
7. n. Computer Science A variable that holds the address of a core storage location.
8. 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.
9. n. Either of the two stars in the Big Dipper that are aligned so as to point to Polaris.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. n. A tool used by bricklayers for clearing out the old mortar in pointing brickwork.
7. n. The lever of a railroad-switch.
8. n. In printing, the workman who adjusts sheets by means of the point-holes on a press.
9. 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.
10. n. See the extract and silker.
11. n. Same as gun-pointer.
12. n. One of a pair of bullocks yoked ahead of the pole-bullocks. See the extract.
13. 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

1. n. Anything that points or is used for pointing.
2. n. A needle-like component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.
3. n. A breed of hunting dog.
4. n. programming A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.
5. n. computing An icon that indicates the position of the mouse; a cursor.
6. n. A tip, a bit of advice (usually plural.)
7. n. in combinations Something worth a given number of points.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The hand of a timepiece.
2. n. (Zoöl.) One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.
3. 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.
4. n. (Naut.) Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold.

WordNet 3.0

1. 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
2. n. a mark to indicate a direction or relation
3. 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
4. n. an indicator as on a dial