the act of referring or consulting; "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer";
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";
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";
a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts; "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic";
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";
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;
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";
an indicator that orients you generally; "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved";
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";
