Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One to whom something is referred, especially for settlement, decision, or an opinion as to the thing's quality.
  • noun Sports & Games An official supervising the play; an umpire.
  • noun Law A person appointed by a court to assist a judge in the trying of a case or to hear certain types of cases.
  • intransitive verb To judge as referee.
  • intransitive verb To act as referee.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To preside over as referee or umpire.
  • noun One to whom something is referred; especially, a person to whom a matter in dispute has been referred for settlement or decision; an arbitrator; an umpire.
  • noun Specifically, in law, a person selected by the court or parties under authority of law to try a cause in place of the court, or to examine and report on a question in aid of the court, or to perform some function involving judicial or quasi-judicial powers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One to whom a thing is referred; a person to whom a matter in dispute has been referred, in order that he may settle it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun sports An umpire or judge; the official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game
  • noun A person who settles a dispute
  • noun A person who writes a letter of reference or provides a reference by phone call for someone
  • noun An expert who judges the manuscript of an article or book to decide if it should be published
  • verb To act as a referee.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who reads manuscripts and judges their suitability for publication
  • noun an attorney appointed by a court to investigate and report on a case
  • verb be a referee or umpire in a sports competition
  • verb evaluate professionally a colleague's work
  • noun (sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Old French past participle of referer ("to relate, to refer"), from Latin referre ("to carry back, to report, to notify"); as if refer +‎ -ee, that is, the person to whom something is referred for consideration.

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Examples

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  • O, I hope Ed 'n' I see referees in deep Ohio.

    October 18, 2008

  • Song quotation on 11.

    February 6, 2009