Adjacent Words

Refer definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REFER', v.t. [L. refero; re and fero, to bear.]
1. To direct, leave or deliver over to another person or tribunal for information or decision; as when parties to a suit refer their cause to another court; or the court refers a cause to individuals for examination and report. A person whose opinion is requested, sometimes refers the inquirer to another person or other source of information.
2. To reduce as to the ultimate end.
You profess and practice to refer all things to yourself.
3. To reduce; to assign; as to an order, genus or class. Naturalists are sometimes at a loss to know to what class or genus an animal or plant is to be referred.
To refer one's self, to betake; to apply. [Little used.]
REFER', v.i.
1. To respect; to have relation. Many passages of Scripture refer to the peculiar customs of the orientals.
2. To appeal; to have recourse; to apply.
In suits it is good to refer to some friend of trust.
3. To allude; to have respect to by intimation without naming. I refer to a well known fact.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make reference to; "His name was mentioned in connection with the invention" [syn: mention, advert, bring up, cite, name, refer]
2: be relevant to; "There were lots of questions referring to her talk"; "My remark pertained to your earlier comments" [syn: refer, pertain, relate, concern, come to, bear on, touch, touch on, have-to doe with]
3: think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another; "This plant can be referred to a known species"
4: send or direct for treatment, information, or a decision; "refer a patient to a specialist"; "refer a bill to a committee"
5: seek information from; "You should consult the dictionary"; "refer to your notes" [syn: consult, refer, look up]
6: have as a meaning; "`multi-' denotes `many' " [syn: denote, refer]
7: use a name to designate; "Christians refer to the mother of Jesus as the Virgin Mary"

Merriam Webster's

verb (referred; referring) Etymology: Middle English referren, from Anglo-French referer, referir, from Latin referre to bring back, report, refer, from re- + ferre to carry — more at bear Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. (1) to think of, regard, or classify within a general category or group (2) to explain in terms of a general cause b. to allot to a particular place, stage, or period c. to regard as coming from or located in a specific area 2. a. to send or direct for treatment, aid, information, or decision <refer a patient to a specialist> <refer a bill back to a committee> b. to direct for testimony or guaranty as to character or ability intransitive verb 1. a. to have relation or connection ; relate b. to direct attention usually by clear and specific mention <no one referred to yesterday's quarrel> 2. to have recourse ; glance briefly <referred frequently to his notes while speaking> • referable adjective • referrer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (referred, referring) (usu. foll. by to) 1 tr. trace or ascribe (to a person or thing as a cause or source) (referred their success to their popularity). 2 tr. consider as belonging (to a certain date or place or class). 3 tr. send on or direct (a person, or a question for decision) (the matter was referred to arbitration; referred him to her previous answer). 4 intr. make an appeal or have recourse to (some authority or source of information) (referred to his notes). 5 tr. send (a person) to a medical specialist etc. 6 tr. (foll. by back to) send (a proposal etc.) back to (a lower body, court, etc.). 7 intr. (foll. by to) (of a person speaking) make an allusion or direct the hearer's attention (decided not to refer to our other problems). 8 intr. (foll. by to) (of a statement etc.) have a particular relation; be directed (this paragraph refers to the events of last year). 9 tr. (foll. by to) interpret (a statement) as being directed to (a particular context etc.). 10 tr. fail (a candidate in an examination). Phrases and idioms: referred pain pain felt in a part of the body other than its actual source. refer to drawer a banker's note suspending payment of a cheque. Derivatives: referable adj. referrer n. Etymology: ME f. OF referer f. L referre carry back (as RE-, ferre bring)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Refer Re*fer" (r?*f?r"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Referred (-f?rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Referring.] [F. r['e]f['e]rer, L. referre; pref. re- re- + ferre to bear. See Bear to carry.] 1. To carry or send back. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. Hence: To send or direct away; to send or direct elsewhere, as for treatment, aid, infirmation, decision, etc.; to make over, or pass over, to another; as, to refer a student to an author; to refer a beggar to an officer; to refer a bill to a committee; a court refers a matter of fact to a commissioner for investigation, or refers a question of law to a superior tribunal. 3. To place in or under by a mental or rational process; to assign to, as a class, a cause, source, a motive, reason, or ground of explanation; as, he referred the phenomena to electrical disturbances. To refer one's self, to have recourse; to betake one's self; to make application; to appeal. [Obs.] I'll refer me to all things sense. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Refer Re*fer", v. i. 1. To have recourse; to apply; to appeal; to betake one's self; as, to refer to a dictionary. In suits . . . it is to refer to some friend of trust. --Bacon. 2. To have relation or reference; to relate; to point; as, the figure refers to a footnote. Of those places that refer to the shutting and opening the abyss, I take notice of that in Job. --Bp. Burnet. 3. To carry the mind or throught; to direct attention; as, the preacher referrd to the late election. 4. To direct inquiry for information or a quarantes of any kind, as in respect to one's integrity, capacity, pecuniary ability, and the like; as, I referred to his employer for the truth of his story. Syn: To allude; advert; suggest; appeal. Usage: Refer, Allude, Advert. We refer to a thing by specifically and distinctly introducing it into our discourse. We allude to it by introducing it indirectly or indefinitely, as by something collaterally allied to it. We advert to it by turning off somewhat abruptly to consider it more at large. Thus, Macaulay refers to the early condition of England at the opening of his history; he alludes to these statements from time to time; and adverts, in the progress of his work, to various circumstances of pecullar interest, on which for a time he dwells. ``But to do good is . . . that that Solomon chiefly refers to in the text.'' --Sharp. ``This, I doubt not, was that artificial structure here alluded to.'' --T. Burnet. Now to the universal whole advert: The earth regard as of that whole a part. --Blackmore.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(refers, referring, referred) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you refer to a particular subject or person, you talk about them or mention them. In his speech, he referred to a recent trip to Canada. VERB: V to n 2. If you refer to someone or something as a particular thing, you use a particular word, expression, or name to mention or describe them. Marcia had referred to him as a dear friend... VERB: V to n as n 3. If a word refers to a particular thing, situation, or idea, it describes it in some way. The term electronics refers to electrically-induced action. VERB: V to n 4. If a person who is ill is referred to a hospital or a specialist, they are sent there by a doctor in order to be treated. Patients are mostly referred to hospital by their general practitioners... The patient should be referred for tests immediately. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n, be V-ed 5. If you refer a task or a problem to a person or an organization, you formally tell them about it, so that they can deal with it. He could refer the matter to the high court. VERB: V n to n 6. If you refer someone to a person or organization, you send them there for the help they need. Now and then I referred a client to him. VERB: V n to n 7. If you refer to a book or other source of information, you look at it in order to find something out. He referred briefly to his notebook. VERB: V to n 8. If you refer someone to a source of information, you tell them the place where they will find the information which they need or which you think will interest them. Mr Bryan also referred me to a book by the American journalist Anthony Scaduto. VERB: V n to n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Direct, consign, commit, leave, deliver over, give in charge. 2. Attribute, ascribe, impute, assign. II. v. n. 1. Relate, point, belong, pertain, appertain, have reference, respect. 2. Appeal, have recourse, apply, consult. 3. Allude, advert, direct attention, make allusion, make reference, hint at.

Moby Thesaurus

account for, accredit, accredit with, accrete to, acknowledge, address to, advert, advert to, advise, advise with, affect, allude, allude to, answer to, appeal to, appertain to, apply, apply to, argue, ascribe to, ask, assign, assign to, attach to, attribute, attribute to, bargain, be construed as, be taken as, bear on, bear upon, belong to, bespeak, betoken, blame, blame for, blame on, blurt, blurt out, breathe, bring home to, bring into play, bring to attention, bring to notice, bring up, call attention to, call in, charge, charge on, charge to, check, cite, collogue, comment, commit, commune, compare notes, concern, confer, confer with, confess, connect, connect with, connote, consult, consult with, convert to use, correspond to, counsel, credit, credit with, cross-refer, cross-reference, deal with, deliberate, denominate, denote, designate, direct, direct attention to, direct to, discuss, discuss with, emblematize, enlist into service, exchange observations, exchange views, exclaim, fall back upon, fasten upon, father upon, figure, finger, fix on, fix upon, focus on, glance, go, hand in, hand over, hang on, have connection with, have conversations, have recourse to, hold conference, imply, import, impress, impute, impute to, indicate, inquire of, insert, instance, interest, interject, interpolate, introduce, invoke, involve, lay, lay to, let drop, let fall, liaise with, link with, look at, look to, make a cross-reference, make reference to, mean, mention, muse, name, negotiate, note, observe, opine, palaver, parley, pass on, pass over, pertain to, pick out, pin on, pinpoint, place upon, point at, point out, point to, powwow, put heads together, put in requisition, quote, reason with, recur, recur to, refer to, reference, reflect, regard, relate to, remark, repair, resort to, respect, revert to, run, saddle on, saddle with, say, select, send, set down to, settle upon, signify, sit down together, sit down with, speak, specify, spell, stand for, stigmatize, study, suggest, symbol, symbolize, take counsel, take note of, take to, take up with, talk over, talk to, tie in with, touch, touch on, touch upon, treat of, turn, turn to, turn to use, typify, use