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Mouse vs Cursor - What's the difference?

mouse | cursor |

In intransitive computing terms the difference between mouse and cursor

is that mouse is to navigate by means of a computer mouse while cursor is to navigate by means of the cursor keys.

As nouns the difference between mouse and cursor

is that mouse is any small rodent of the genus Mus while cursor is a part of any of several scientific instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position.

As verbs the difference between mouse and cursor

is that mouse is to move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around) while cursor is to navigate by means of the cursor keys.

mouse

English

Noun

(mice)
  • Any small rodent of the genus Mus .
  • *
  • *:At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
  • (lb) A member of the many small rodent and marsupial species resembling such a rodent.
  • A quiet or shy person.
  • (lb) (plural'' mice''' ''or, rarely,'' ' mouses ) An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.
  • (lb) Hematoma.
  • (lb) A turn or lashing of spun yarn or small stuff, or a metallic clasp or fastening, uniting the point and shank of a hook to prevent its unhooking or straighening out.
  • (lb)
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • A match used in firing guns or blasting.
  • (lb) A small model of (a fragment of) (Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory) with desirable properties (depending on the context).

    • Hypernyms

    * (small rodent) rodent

    Coordinate terms

    * (small rodent) rat * (input device) joystick, trackpad, trackball, pointing stick

    Derived terms

    * (as) quiet as a mouse * cat and mouse * church mouse * deer mouse * dormouse * fieldmouse * house mouse * kangaroo mouse * mouseable, mousable * mouse button * mouse click * mouse-ear * mouse mat * mouse pad * mouser * mousetrap * mousy * optical mouse * play cat and mouse * poor as a church mouse * when the cat's away the mice will play

    Verb

    (mous)
  • To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around ).
  • To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.
  • (nautical) To close the mouth of a hook by a careful binding of marline or wire.
    • Captain Higgins moused the hook with a bit of marline to prevent the block beckets from falling out under slack.
  • (computing) To navigate by means of a computer mouse.
  • * 1988 , MacUser: Volume 4
    • I had just moused to the File menu and the pull-down menu repeated the menu bar's hue a dozen shades lighter.
  • * 2009 , Daniel Tunkelang, Faceted Search (page 35)
    • Unlike the Flamenco work, the Relation Browser allows users to quickly explore a document space using dynamic queries issued by mousing over facet elements in the interface.
  • (obsolete, nonce, transitive) To tear, as a cat devours a mouse.
  • * Shakespeare
    • [Death] mousing the flesh of men.

    Derived terms

    * mouse around * mouse over * mouser

    Related terms

    * muscle * mussel

    See also

    {{projectlinks , pedia , pedia , page2=mouse (computing) , commons , page3=Mus , commons , page4=Computer mouse , quote , page5=Mice , species , page6=Mus}}

    Anagrams

    * English nouns with irregular plurals ----

    cursor

    English

    Alternative forms

    * cursour (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A part of any of several scientific instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position
  • (graphical user interface) A moving icon or other representation of the position of the pointing device.
  • (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".
  • (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.
  • (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

    (en verb)
  • (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.

    See also

    * electronic display * GUI * pointer ----