• |
To carry or send back. |
• |
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. |
• |
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 have recourse; to apply; to appeal; to betake one's
self; as, to refer to a dictionary. |
• |
To have relation or reference; to relate; to point; as,
the figure refers to a footnote. |
• |
To carry the mind or thought; to direct attention; as,
the preacher referred to the late election. |
• |
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. |