Cursor

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sÉ™(ɹ)

Alternative forms

• cursour obsolete

Origin

From Latin cursor ("runner"), from currō ("run") + -or ("agentive suffix"). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European.

Full definition of cursor

Noun

1. A part of any of several scientific instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position
2. (graphical user interface) A moving icon or other representation of the position of the pointing device.
3. (graphical user interface) An indicator, often a blinking line or bar, indicating where the next insertion or other edit will take place. Also referred to as "the caret".
4. (databases) A reference to a row of data in a table, which moves from row to row as data is retrieved by way of it.
5. (programming) A design pattern in object oriented methodology in which a collection is iterated uniformly, also known as the iterator pattern.

Related terms

• courier
• current
• cursive
• cursory
• recursive

Verb

1. (intransitive, computing) To navigate by means of the cursor keys.
• 1990, InfoWorld (volume 12, number 22, 28 May 1990)The only other problem is that there's a nagging tendency for the highlight to overrun when cursoring through file lists.