Source and Reference

noun

• The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
  • usage: "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
  • synonyms: beginning, origin, root, rootage
• A document (or organization) from which information is obtained.
  • usage: "the reporter had two sources for the story"
• Anything that provides inspiration for later work.
  • synonyms: seed, germ
• A facility where something is available.
• A person who supplies information.
  • synonyms: informant
• Someone who originates or causes or initiates something.
  • usage: "he was the generator of several complaints"
  • synonyms: generator, author
• Technology) a process by which energy or a substance enters a system. (
  • usage: "a heat source"; "a source of carbon dioxide"
• Anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies.
  • usage: "an infectious agent depends on a reservoir for its survival"
  • synonyms: reservoir
• A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to.
  • usage: "he carried an armful of references back to his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that quotation"
  • synonyms: reference

verb

• Get (a product) from another country or business.
  • usage: "She sourced a supply of carpet"; "They are sourcing from smaller companies"
• Specify the origin of.
  • usage: "The writer carefully sourced her report"

• (n.) The act of rising; a rise; an ascent.
• (n.) The rising from the ground or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain.
• (n.) That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause.

(DoD) A person, thing, or activity from which information is obtained.
(DoD) In clandestine activities, a person (agent), normally a foreign national, in the employ of an intelligence activity for intelligence purposes.
(DoD) In interrogation activities, any person who furnishes information, either with or without the knowledge that the information is being used for intelligence purposes. In this context, a controlled source is in the employment or under the control of the intelligence activity and knows that the information is to be used for intelligence purposes. An uncontrolled source is a voluntary contributor of information and may or may not know that the information is to be used for intelligence purposes. See also agent; collection agency.

noun

• A remark that calls attention to something or someone.
  • usage: "she made frequent mention of her promotion"; "there was no mention of it"; "the speaker made several references to his wife"
  • synonyms: mention
• A short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage.
  • usage: "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"
  • synonyms: citation, cite, acknowledgment, credit, mention, quotation
• An indicator that orients you generally.
  • usage: "it is used as a reference for comparing the heating and the electrical energy involved"
  • synonyms: reference point, point of reference
• A book to which you can refer for authoritative facts.
  • usage: "he contributed articles to the basic reference work on that topic"
  • synonyms: reference book, reference work, book of facts
• A formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential future employer describing the person's qualifications and dependability.
  • usage: "requests for character references are all too often answered evasively"
  • synonyms: character, character reference
• The most direct or specific meaning of a word or expression; the class of objects that an expression refers to.
  • usage: "the extension of `satellite of Mars' is the set containing only Demos and Phobos"
  • synonyms: denotation, extension
• The act of referring or consulting.
  • usage: "reference to an encyclopedia produced the answer"
  • synonyms: consultation
• A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to.
  • usage: "he carried an armful of references back to his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that quotation"
  • synonyms: source
• Computer science. ( the code that identifies where a piece of information is stored)
  • synonyms: address, computer address
• The relation between a word or phrase and the object or idea it refers to.
  • usage: "he argued that reference is a consequence of conditioned reflexes"

verb

• Refer to.
  • usage: "he referenced his colleagues' work"
  • synonyms: cite

• (n.) One who or that which, is referred to.
• (n.) 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.
• (n.) Relation; regard; respect.
• (n.) The act of submitting a matter in dispute to the judgment of one or more persons for decision.
• (n.) Appeal.
• (n.) That which refers to something; a specific direction of the attention; as, a reference in a text-book.
• (n.) A work or a passage in a work, to which one is referred.
• (n.) One of whom inquires can be made as to the integrity, capacity, and the like, of another.
• (n.) The act of referring or the state of being referred; as, reference to a chart for guidance.