1. A visually distinct mark on a display indicating where newly typed text will be inserted. The cursOR moves as text is typed and, in most modern editORs, can be moved around within a document by the user to change the insertion point. 2. In SQL, a named control structure used by an application program to point to a row of data. The position of the row is within a tableORview, and the cursOR is used interactively so select rows from columns. (1996-12-27)