REFERENCE

REFERENCE.
1. Referring to or mentioning someone or something, either directly or indirectly, and often in the form of an ALLUSION or a QUOTATION
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2. Also objective reference. In logic and linguistics, the activity or condition through which one term or concept is related to another or to objects in the world
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3. In sociology and psychology, the process by which, or the extent to which, people relate to elements in society as norms and standards for comparing such things as status and values
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4. An indication or direction in a text or other source of information to all or part of one or more other text, etc., where further, related information may be found
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5. The text or other source to which one is directed or referred. The term is often attributive in senses 4 and 5, as in reference book, reference library, reference materials. It may also be part of an of-phrase, as in frame of reference, point of reference, work of reference.

6. To provide a book or other source of information with references (books that are all thoroughly referenced) or to arrange (data, notes, etc.) for easy reference (all the background material is referenced in an appendix).

Reference materials have in the past depended mainly on surfaces that serve as receptacles of pictures and language symbols, from paintings on cliff faces, in caves, and on walls, through clay tablets and manuscripts of various kinds, to printed books and other products. Especially in the 20c, however, they have been extended to include audio- and video-recordings and electronically stored information on tape and disk. Distinct genres of reference book, such as the atlas for maps, the DICTIONARY for words, the directory for a variety of general or specific information (such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers), the encyclopedia for facts and opinions, the gazetteer for geographical information, have emerged over many centuries, gaining their present-day forms especially in the expansion of book publishing in the 18–20c.

ALPHABETICAL ORDER, BIBLIOGRAPHY, CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION, DEIXIS, DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH USAGE, LEXICOGRAPHY, LEXICOLOGY, LINGUISTIC ATLAS, NOTES AND REFERENCES, OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY, POLYSEMY, QUOTATION, ROGET'S THESAURUS, SEMANTICS, SENSE.