refero

Etymology

From re- +‎ ferō (“bear, carry”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈre.fe.roː/, [ˈrɛfɛroː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈre.fe.ro/, [ˈrɛːfero]

Verb

referō (present infinitive referre, perfect active rettulī, supine relātum); third conjugation, irregular

1. to bear, bring, drive, or carry back, off, or away

   Synonym: reveho

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.93-95:

     “Ēgregiam vērō laudem et spolia ampla refertis
     tūque puerque tuus, magnum et memorābile nūmen,
     ūna dolō dīvom sī fēmina victa duōrum est!”

     “[Such] praiseworthy honor, indeed! And splendid the spoils you [both] bring back — you and your boy, [Cupid] — so great and glorious the divine might, the guile of two gods having vanquished one woman!”
     (Juno mocks Venus after Dido has fallen in love.)

2. to give back, give up, return, restore, pay back, repay, pay in return, show one's gratitude
3. (of sound) to bring back, return, answer, echo, resound
4. to bring back, restore, renew, revive, repeat
5. to say in return, respond, reply, answer, represent

   Synonyms: respondeo, occurro

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.333:

     Tandem pauca refert: [...].

     At last [Aeneas] briefly replies: [...].

6. to call to mind, recall, think over, call back to memory, repeat one's self

   Synonyms: memorō, admoneō, moneō, retineō, meminī, redūcō

   Antonyms: oblīvīscor, oblitterō

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.104:

     liceat sūmpta pauca referre lyra

     Let me take up my lyre to recall a few [notes].

7. to reconsider
8. to refer to, assign to, give credit for
9. to judge by, measure according to a certain standard
10. to restore, renew, revive, repeat

    Synonyms: iterō, integrō, redintegrō, renovō, novō, reficiō, reparō

11. (news or message) relate, recount, tell, say

    Synonyms: oro, alloquor, loquor, for, aio, alloquor, loquor, colloquor

12. (matter of import, to the senate) to bring before, refer to

    Synonym: propono

13. (name or item in a list) to include, enter
14. to make known officially, report, deliver, transmit, announce, notify, proclaim, register, record

    Synonyms: dēnūntiō, adnuntio, nuntio, indico, renūntiō, nū̆ncupō, profiteor, dēferō, prōdō, ēdīcō, praedicō, cōntiōnor

15. (passive) to retreat, go back, withdraw, return

    Synonyms: facessō, dēcēdō, discēdō, cēdō, dēficiō, concēdō, excēdō, regredior, subtrahō, subdūcō, inclīnō, recēdō, āmoveō, recipiō, vertō

    Antonyms: prōgredior, prōdeō, prōcēdō, prōficiō, aggredior, ēvehō, incēdō, accēdō, adeō

    • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.14:

      pedes quoque referret gradum

      The infantry also retreated from his position

16. to tell, recount, narrate

    Synonyms: ferō, prōdō, pandō, trādō, dicitur

References

• “refero”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “refero”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• refero in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• refero in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to retreat step by step: gradum sensim referre
    
  • to consider one's own advantage in everything: omnia ad suam utilitatem referre
    
  • to show gratitude (in one's acts): gratiam alicui referre (meritam, debitam) pro aliqua re
    
  • to return like for like: par pari referre
    
  • to reward amply; to give manifold recompense for: bonam (praeclaram) gratiam referre
    
  • the book is attributed to an unknown writer: liber refertur ad nescio quem auctorem
    
  • to enter a thing in one's note-book: aliquid in commentarios suos referre (Tusc. 3. 22. 54)
    
  • to make virtue the standard in every thought and act: omnia consilia et facta ad virtutem referre (Phil. 10. 10. 20)
    
  • to measure something by the standard of something else; to make something one's criterion: dirigere or referre aliquid ad aliquam rem
    
  • to deify a person: aliquem in deorum numerum referre, reponere
    
  • to consider as a god: aliquem in deorum numero referre
    
  • to book a debt: nomina facere or in tabulas referre
    
  • to put down to a man's credit: alicui acceptum referre aliquid (Verr. 2. 70. 170)
    
  • to retire into private life: in otium se referre (Fam. 99)
    
  • to consider a thing from a political point of view: ad rei publicae rationes aliquid referre
    
  • to record in the official tablets (Annales maximi): in album referre (De Or. 2. 12. 52)
    
  • to place a person's name on the list of the proscribed: in proscriptorum numerum referre aliquem (Rosc. Am. 11. 32)
    
  • to bring a question before the senate (of the presiding magistrate): ad senatum referre (Cic. Dom. 53. 136)
    
  • to enter a thing in the public records: in tabulas publicas referre aliquid
    
  • to put some one on the list of the accused: referre in reos aliquem
    
  • to retire (without turning one's back on the enemy): pedem referre
    
  • to gain a victory, win a battle: victoriam ferre, referre
    
• Frederic M. Wheelock and Richard A. LaFleur (2000), Wheelock's Latin (6th edition), HarperCollins: New York, →ISBN