Search the Dictionary

An error in regard to the place of an event or a thing; a referring something to a wrong place. [R.]

To refer to, or put into, a wrong time. [R.] Lowell.

The first year's profits of a spiritual preferment, anciently paid by the clergy to the pope; first fruits. In England, they now form a fund for the augmentation of poor livings.

The noun to which a relative refers; as, in the sentence "Solomon was the prince who built the temple," prince is the antecedent of who.

To put before; to prefer. [Obs.] Bailey.

Old; ancient; of genuine antiquity; as, an antique statue. In this sense it usually refers to the flourishing ages of Greece and Rome. For the antique world excess and pride did hate. Spenser.

A call upon a person or an authority for proof or decision, in one's favor; reference to another as witness; a call for help or a favor; entreaty. A kind of appeal to the Deity, the author of wonders. Bacon.

The act of directing or referring something to a particular case, to discover or illustrate agreement or disagreement, fitness, or correspondence; as, I make the remark, and leave you to make the application; the application of a theory.

To betake; to address; to refer; -- used reflexively. I applied myself to him for help. Johnson.

Fig.: With reference to April being the month in which vegetation begins to put forth, the variableness of its weather, etc. The April's her eyes; it is love's spring. Shak. April fool, one who is sportively imposed upon by others on the first day of April.

In a curve referred to polar coördinates, any point for which the radius vector is a maximum or minimum.

With reference to the archetype; originally. "Parts archetypally distinct." Dana.

n which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.

To attribute, impute, or refer, as to a cause; as, his death was ascribed to a poison; to ascribe an effect to the right cause; to ascribe such a book to such an author. The finest [speech] that is ascribed to Satan in the whole poem. Addison.

An asterisk, or mark of reference. [R.]

To ascribe; to consider (something) as due or appropriate (to); to refer, as an effect to a cause; to impute; to assign; to consider as belonging (to). We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or contradiction in it. Abp. Tillotson. The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true and exact performer.…

of coördinates in a plane, to straight lines intersecting each other, to which points are referred for the purpose of determining their relative position: they are either rectangular or oblique. -- Axes of coördinates in space, the three straight lines in which the coördinate planes intersect each other. -- Axis of a…

Of, or from, barbarian nations; foreign; -- often with reference to barbarous nations of east. "Barbaric pearl and gold." Milton.

To relate or refer; -- with on or upon; as, how does this bear on the question

ascertain the relation of one object or place to another; to ascertain one's position by reference to landmarks or to the compass; hence (Fig.), to ascertain the condition of things when one is in trouble or perplexity.