(1) A mechanism for connecting objects by storing, in one object, a reference to another object. (2) In the C and C++ languages, the application of the unary operator * to a pointer to access the object the pointer points to.
An indirection object is one that acts as a stand-in for another object. In OracleAS TopLink, indirection is implemented through Value Holders, which delay database access through acting as stand-in for any object relationships.