cursor

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(kûr'sər) pronunciation
n. Computer Science
A bright, usually blinking, movable indicator on a display, marking the position at which a character can be entered, corrected, or deleted.

[Middle English, runner, from Latin, from cursus, past participle of currere, to run.]


Symbol on a computer terminal that shows where on the screen the next character to be typed will appear. Cursors often appear as blinking dashes or rectangles.

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For a list of words related to cursor, see:
  • General Technology - cursor: special character used to denote position on video display, usu. an underline, solid block, or highlight arrow


  See crossword solutions for the clue Cursor.

A cursor is a moving placement or pointer that indicates a position. English-speakers have used the term with this meaning since the 16th century, for a wide variety of movable or mobile position-markers.

The literal meaning of the original Latin word cursor expresses the idea of someone or something that runs. Especially in the plural, Cursores 'runners', it was the name of certain functions, originally messengers. Cursor was also a Roman cognomen used by gens Papiria.

The word cursor may refer to any of the following:

  • Cursor (slide rules)
  • Cursor (typewriters)
  • Cursor (computers)
  • Cursor (databases)
  • Cursor Models, which were made for the Mercedes Benz Museum, and perhaps as promotional models.
  • Cursor (magazine), an early computer-based "magazine" that was distributed on cassette in the late 1970s. Each issue contained programs, utilities, and games and was a forerunner of today's computer magazines that come packaged with CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs. Cursor was produced for users of the Commodore PET.
  • Cursor, a holographic sidekick character from the TV series Automan, with the ability to "draw" physical objects in real space

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - cursor, markør, skyder

Nederlands (Dutch)
cursor, doorzichtige schuif met streep (op rekenliniaal)

Français (French)
n. - curseur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Cursor, Schreibmarke

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δρομέας λογαριθμικού κανόνα, (Η/Υ) δρομέας, φωτεινός δείκτης

Italiano (Italian)
cursore

Português (Portuguese)
n. - cursor (m)

Русский (Russian)
курсор

Español (Spanish)
n. - cursor

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - markör

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
指针, 游标

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 指標, 游標

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 활자

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - カーソル

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مؤشر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נתב (על מרקע המחשב), סמן‬


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