reference

noun

1. (archaic, countable, literary, uncountable)A relationship or relation (to something).

   “A man is beloued of a man, in that he is a man, but all theſe are farre more eminent and great, when they ſhal proceed from a ſanctified ſpirit, that hath a true touch of Religion, and a reference to God.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A measurement one can compare (some other measurement) to.
3. (countable, uncountable)Information about a person, provided by someone (a referee) with whom they are well acquainted.

   “Changes will befall, and friends may part, / But distance only cannot change the heart / And were I call’d to prove th’ assertion true, / One proof should serve—a reference to you.”

4. (US, countable, especially, uncountable)A person who provides this information; a referee.
5. (attributive, countable, often, uncountable)A reference work.

   “reference grammar”

   “Reference Dictionary of Linguistics”

6. (countable, uncountable)The act of referring: a submitting for information or decision.
7. (countable, uncountable)A relation between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object.
8. (countable, literary, uncountable)A short written identification of a previously published work which is used as a source for a text.
9. (countable, literary, uncountable)A previously published written work thus indicated; a source.
10. (countable, uncountable)An object containing information which refers to data stored elsewhere, as opposed to containing the data itself.
11. (countable, uncountable)A special sequence used to represent complex characters in markup languages, such as ™ for the ™ symbol.
12. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Appeal.

    “Y’are falne into a Princely hand, feare nothing, / Make your full reference freely to my Lord, / Who is ſo full of Grace, that it flowes ouer / On all that neede.”

verb

1. To provide a list of references for (a text).

   “You must thoroughly reference your paper before submitting it.”

2. To cite, to use as a reference.

   “Reference the dictionary for word meanings.”

   “The penchant for synthesizing the work of others that pervades British scholarship has been described by one of my cynical American colleagues as “a giant bibliography that is always eating its own tail.” By this he means that cliques of like-minded writers tend to reference each other’s work incessantly.”

   “Written information is a relatively new phenomenon. Depositing it and being able to reference it centuries later is not common human experience.”

   “On the Florence Harding page, for instance, a researcher will be able to reference a book by Waarren Harding’s alleged mistress, Nan Britton, who claimed that she bore his daughter.”

3. (proscribed, sometimes)To mention, to refer to.

   “In his speech, the candidate obliquely referenced the past failures of his opponent.”

   “Humanities institutions specifically reference the work setting for illustrative applications of the unique and significant contributions of the Humanities.”

   “With the economy characteristic of all African sculpture, these portraits reference individual and social identities simultaneously, so that the image of a king may represent a particular king and all kings; a commemorative mask for a woman, a particular woman and all titled women.”

   “And I would simply reference those of you who are out there working.”

   “While Trump has not explicitly mentioned habeas corpus in public, it’s what he was referencing last month when he commented on steps he could take to combat nationwide injunctions against his actions on deportations, according to one of the people familiar with the talks.”

4. To contain the value that is a memory address of some value stored in memory.

   “The given pointer will reference the actual generated data.”