The DICT Development Group

  Reference \Ref"er*ence\ (r?f"?r-ens), n. [See Refer.]
     1. The act of referring, or the state of being referred; as,
        reference to a chart for guidance.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. That which refers to something; a specific direction of
        the attention; as, a reference in a text-book.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Relation; regard; respect.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Something that hath a reference to my state. --Shak.
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     4. One who, or that which, is referred to. Specifically;
        (a) One of whom inquires can be made as to the integrity,
            capacity, and the like, of another.
        (b) A work, or a passage in a work, to which one is
            referred.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Law)
        (a) The act of submitting a matter in dispute to the
            judgment of one or more persons for decision.
        (b) (Equity) The process of sending any matter, for
            inquiry in a cause, to a master or other officer, in
            order that he may ascertain facts and report to the
            court.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     6. Appeal. [R.] "Make your full reference." --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Reference Bible, a Bible in which brief explanations, and
        references to parallel passages, are printed in the margin
        of the text.
        [1913 Webster]

  reference
       n 1: a remark that calls attention to something or someone; "she
            made frequent mention of her promotion"; "there was no
            mention of it"; "the speaker made several references to
            his wife" [syn: mention]
       2: a short note recognizing a source of information or of a
          quoted passage; "the student's essay failed to list
          several important citations"; "the acknowledgments are
          usually printed at the front of a book"; "the article
          includes mention of similar clinical cases" [syn: citation,
           acknowledgment, credit, mention, quotation]
       3: an indicator that orients you generally; "it is used as a
          reference for comparing the heating and the electrical
          energy involved" [syn: reference point, point of
          reference]
       4: a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts; "he
          contributed articles to the basic reference work on that
          topic" [syn: reference book, reference work, book of
          facts]
       5: a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential
          future employer describing the person's qualifications and
          dependability; "requests for character references are all
          to often answered evasively" [syn: character, character
          reference]
       6: the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression;
          the class of objects that an expression refers to; "the
          extension of `satellite of Mars' is the set containing
          only Demos and Phobos" [syn: denotation, extension]
       7: the act of referring or consulting; "reference to an
          encyclopedia produced the answer" [syn: consultation]
       8: a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is
          referred to; "he carried an armful of references back to
          his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that
          quotation" [syn: source]
       9: the relation between a word or phrase and the object or idea
          it refers to; "he argued that reference is a consequence
          of conditioned reflexes"
       v : refer to; "he referenced his colleagues' work" [syn: cite]

  162 Moby Thesaurus words for "reference":
     acknowledgment, advocacy, advocating, advocation,
     affective meaning, allusion, angle, appeal to, applicability,
     application, appositeness, aspect, bearing, by-line, case,
     certificate of character, certification, character,
     character reference, citation, coloring, concern, concernment,
     confession, configuration, connection, connotation, consequence,
     credential, credentials, credit line, cross reference, cross-refer,
     cross-reference, demonstration, denotation, diacritical mark,
     direct attention to, direction, drift, effect, eidolon, end stop,
     endorsement, essence, example, exemplification, extension, facet,
     fashion, feature, figure, force, form, germaneness, gestalt, gist,
     grammatical meaning, guise, hint, idea, illustration, image, imago,
     impact, implication, import, impression, indication, innuendo,
     insinuation, instance, intension, interest, intimation, invoke,
     item, letter of introduction, lexical meaning, light, likeness,
     lineaments, literal meaning, look, make a cross-reference,
     make reference to, manner, materiality, meaning, mention, naming,
     notation, note, notification, overtone, particular, patronage,
     pertinence, phase, phasis, pith, point, practical consequence,
     punctuation, punctuation marks, purport, quotation,
     range of meaning, real meaning, recommend, recommendation,
     refer to, reference mark, referent, referral, regard, relatedness,
     relation, relevance, remark, respect, scope, seeming,
     semantic cluster, semantic field, semblance, sense, shape, side,
     signature, significance, signification, significatum, signifie,
     simulacrum, slant, span of meaning, specification, spirit, stop,
     structural meaning, style, substance, sum, sum and substance,
     symbolic meaning, tenor, testimonial, tittle, total effect,
     totality of associations, trademark, transferred meaning, tribute,
     twist, unadorned meaning, undertone, value, view, viewpoint,
     voucher, wise
  
  

  reference
       
          pointer
       
       

  REFERENCE, practice. The act of sending any matter by a court of chancery or 
  one exercising equitable powers, to a master or other officer, in order that 
  he may ascertain facts and report to the court. By reference is also 
  understood that part of an instrument of writing where it points to another 
  for the matters therein contained. For the effect of such reference, see 1 
  Pick. R. 27; 17 Mass. R. 443; 15 Pick. R. 66; 7 Halst. R. 25; 14 Wend. R. 
  619; 10 Conn. R. 422; 4 Greenl. R. 14, 471; 3 Greenl. R. 393; 6 Pick. R. 
  460; the thing referred to is also called a reference. 
  
  

  REFERENCE, contracts. An agreement to submit to certain arbitrators, matters 
  in dispute between two or more parties, for their decision, and judgment. 
  The persons to whom such matters are referred are sometimes called referees. 
  
  

  REFERENCE, mercantile law. A direction or request by a party who asks a 
  credit to the person from whom he expects it, to call on some other person 
  named in order to ascertain the character or mercantile standing of the 
  former.