reference definition

1. an indicator that orients you generally
• examples: it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved
2. a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts
• examples: he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic
3. the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to
• examples: the extension of `satellite of Mars' is the set containing only Demos and Phobos
4. the act of referring or consulting
• examples: reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer
5. a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to
• examples: he carried an armful of references back to his desk
• examples: he spent hours looking for the source of that quotation
6. the relation between a word or phrase and the object or idea it refers to
• examples: he argued that reference is a consequence of conditioned reflexes
7. refer to
• examples: he referenced his colleagues' work