From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
reference
n 1: a remark that calls attention to something or someone; "she
made frequent mention of her promotion"; "there was no
mention of it"; "the speaker made several references to
his wife" [syn: mention]
2: a short note recognizing a source of information or of a
quoted passage; "the student's essay failed to list
several important citations"; "the acknowledgments are
usually printed at the front of a book"; "the article
includes mention of similar clinical cases" [syn:
citation, acknowledgment, credit, mention,
quotation]
3: an indicator that orients you generally; "it is used as a
reference for comparing the heating and the electrical
energy involved" [syn: reference point, {point of
reference}]
4: a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts; "he
contributed articles to the basic reference work on that
topic" [syn: reference book, reference work, {book of
facts}]
5: a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential
future employer describing the person's qualifications and
dependability; "requests for character references are all
to often answered evasively" [syn: character, {character
reference}]
6: the most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression;
the class of objects that an expression refers to; "the
extension of `satellite of Mars' is the set containing
only Demos and Phobos" [syn: denotation, extension]
7: the act of referring or consulting; "reference to an
encyclopedia produced the answer" [syn: consultation]
8: a publication (or a passage from a publication) that is
referred to; "he carried an armful of references back to
his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that
quotation" [syn: source]
9: the relation between a word or phrase and the object or idea
it refers to; "he argued that reference is a consequence
of conditioned reflexes"
v : refer to; "he referenced his colleagues' work" [syn: cite]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Reference \Ref"er*ence\ (r?f"?r-ens), n. [See Refer.]
1. The act of referring, or the state of being referred; as,
reference to a chart for guidance.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which refers to something; a specific direction of
the attention; as, a reference in a text-book.
[1913 Webster]
3. Relation; regard; respect.
[1913 Webster]
Something that hath a reference to my state. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. One who, or that which, is referred to. Specifically;
(a) One of whom inquires can be made as to the integrity,
capacity, and the like, of another.
(b) A work, or a passage in a work, to which one is
referred.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Law)
(a) The act of submitting a matter in dispute to the
judgment of one or more persons for decision.
(b) (Equity) The process of sending any matter, for
inquiry in a cause, to a master or other officer, in
order that he may ascertain facts and report to the
court.
[1913 Webster]
6. Appeal. [R.] "Make your full reference." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Reference Bible, a Bible in which brief explanations, and
references to parallel passages, are printed in the margin
of the text.
[1913 Webster]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
reference
pointer