What is "mouseover"

n. (context computing English) The event of an on-screen pointer being over an on-screen shape.

In computing, a mouseover, mouse hover or hover box is a graphical control element that is activated when the user moves or "hovers" the pointer over its trigger area, usually with a mouse, but also possible using a digital pen. The graphical control element is particularly common in web browsers where the URL of a hyperlink can be viewed in the status bar. Site designers can easily define their own mouseover events using JavaScript and/or Cascading Style Sheets. In case of multiple layers the mouseover event is triggered by the uppermost layer.

Mouseover events are not limited to web design and are commonly used in modern GUI programming. Their existence might not even be known to the user as the events can be used to call any function and might affect only the internal workings of the program.