asterisk meaning

• Noun: asterisk  asturisk
  1. A star-shaped character * used in printing
     - star
  Verb: asterisk  asturisk
  1. Mark with an asterisk
     - star

  Derived forms: asterisks, asterisked, asterisking

  Type of: character, grapheme, graphic symbol, mark

  Encyclopedia: Asterisk

• 
  [Computer]
  <character> "*" ASCII code 42. Common names include: star; INTERCAL: splat; ITU-T: asterisk. Rare: wild card; gear; dingle; mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; glob; Nathan Hale.
  
  Commonly used as the multiplication operator and as the Kleene star. Often doubled, as in "x**2", to mean "to the power". In C and related languages, asterisk is used as the dereference operator, "*p" meaning "the thing pointed to by p".

Examples

1. the asterisk refers to a footnote.
2. an asterisk designates quantities that refer to the volume element.
3. sections that may be passed over in first reading are marked with an asterisk.
4. all fields marked with an asterisk are required to continue
5. required fields are indicated with a red asterisk