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Pointer vs Signpost - What's the difference?

pointer | signpost |

As nouns the difference between pointer and signpost

is that pointer is anything that points or is used for pointing while signpost is a post bearing a sign that gives information on directions.

As a verb signpost is

to install signposts on.

pointer

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Anything that points or is used for pointing.
  • A needle-like component of a timepiece or measuring device that indicates the time or the current reading of the device.
  • A breed of hunting dog.
  • (programming) A variable that holds the address of a memory location where a value can be stored.
  • (computing) An icon that indicates the position of the mouse; a cursor.
  • A tip, a bit of advice (usually plural.)
    • The instructor gave me some pointers on writing a good paper.
  • (in combinations) Something worth a given number of points.
    • a ten-pointer
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 18 , author=Ben Dirs , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=After another penalty miss, Kvirikashvili finally found the target on 27 minutes before Flood hit back with a three-pointer of his own.}}

    Synonyms

    * (sense, teacher's pointer) fescue * (of a timepiece) hand * (of a measuring device) needle * (icon) mouse pointer * (programming) reference

    See also

    * (programming) dereference, address

    Derived terms

    * null pointer * white pointer * dangling pointer

    See also

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    signpost

    English

    Alternative forms

    * sign-post

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a post bearing a sign that gives information on directions
  • (cryptic crosswords) A word or phrase within a clue that serves as an indicator, rather than being fodder.
  • * 2012 , David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words
    • In the first example — Dance revolutionised Burma'' — you know the middle word is the signpost as ''revolutionised is too long to be the fodder (or letters to scramble). And bang, out jumps RUMBA.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To install signposts on.
    • The route wasn't signposted , and we got lost on the way.
  • To direct (somebody) to services, resources, etc.
  • * 2008 , Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee, Valuing and Supporting Carers (volume 1, page 31)
    • We believe that some Carers' Centres already offer an effective 'first stop shop' for signposting carers to local organisations, services and benefits, and for providing ongoing support as carers' circumstances change.
  • To indicate logical progress of a discourse using words or phrases such as now, right, to recap, to sum up, as I was saying, etc.
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2013-08-08 , author = Charlotte Mulcare , title = The lost mathematicians: Numbers in the (not so) dark ages , site = plus.maths.org , url = http://plus.maths.org/content/lost-mathematicians-numbers-not-so-dark-early-middle-ages , accessdate = 2013-09-08 }}
    Bede, never one to shrink from a challenge, focused his energies not only onto calculating Easter but also onto describing why the maths mattered as much as the result. In this, his elevated rhetoric is balanced by a very human enthusiasm — it's hard not to love a writer who signposts his core hypotheses with phrases such as 'now to gut the bowels of this question!'

    See also

    * fingerpost * guidepost * waymark

    Anagrams

    * *