- Referring
- Refer Re*fer" (r[-e]*f[~e]r"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Referred}
(r[-e]*f[~e]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.
[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
{To refer one's self}, to have recourse; to betake one's self; to make application; to appeal. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
I'll refer me to all things sense. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
