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Refer   /rəfˈər/  /rɪfˈər/   Listen
verb
Refer  v. t.  (past & past part. referred; pres. part. referring)  
1.
To carry or send back. (Obs.)
2.
Hence: To send or direct away; to send or direct elsewhere, as for treatment, aid, information, 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."


Refer  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."
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."
3.
To carry the mind or thought; to direct attention; as, the preacher referred to the late election.
4.
To direct inquiry for information or a guarantee 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.
Synonyms: To allude; advert; suggest; appeal. 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 peculiar interest, on which for a time he dwells. "But to do good is... that that Solomon chiefly refers to in the text." "This, I doubt not, was that artificial structure here alluded to." "Now to the universal whole advert: The earth regard as of that whole a part."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Refer" Quotes from Famous Books



... not vertue, wisdom, valour, wit, 1010 Strength, comliness of shape, or amplest merit That womans love can win or long inherit; But what it is, hard is to say, Harder to hit, (Which way soever men refer it) Much like thy riddle, Samson, in one day Or seven, though one should musing sit; If any of these or all, the Timnian bride Had not so soon preferr'd Thy Paranymph, worthless to thee compar'd, 1020 Successour in thy bed, Nor both so loosly disally'd Thir nuptials, nor this last ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton
... the Cajano farm of Lorenzo the Magnificent, during my last "spell of wet," it was uncourteous not to refer to the pleasant commemorative poem of "Ambra," which Lorenzo himself wrote, and which, whatever may be said against the conception and conduct of it, shows in its opening stanzas that the great Medici was as appreciative of rural images—fir-boughs with loaded snows, thick cypresses in which ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, August, 1863, No. 70 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various
... [467] I refer for the fuller explanation of these transactions to my History of the Popes and my French History. My meaning is very fully recognised in an essay in the Revue ...
— A History of England Principally in the Seventeenth Century, Volume I (of 6) • Leopold von Ranke
... return the money to those from whom it was receiv'd; and in order to justify themselves therein, they referr'd to the conduct of Friends in Philadelphia in similar cases. Matters thus appearing very difficult and embarrassing, it was unitedly concluded to refer the final determination thereof to the yearly meeting of Pennsylvania; and several Friends were appointed to attend that meeting in relation thereto, among whom I was one of the number. We accordingly set out on the 9th day of the 9th month, 1779, and I was ...
— Complete Prose Works - Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy • Walt Whitman
... ship. Who would form the bodyguard? That was a poser. Of course Sam Smatch would be one; but then by himself he would not be of much use, as his wooden leg might chance to stick in a hole and stop his progress. At last they agreed to refer the matter to the Captain, and to get him to tell off a body of men for ...
— True Blue • W.H.G. Kingston


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