1845 in T. K. Arnold Cornelius Nepos I. 119 Plures, on the other hand, is comparative, with ref. to a smaller number.

1894 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 15 352 Add the definition to carry one's point, with ref. to Liv. 22, 27, 10.

1926 F. M. Ford Let. 9 Mar. (1965) 168 Yours of the 23d ult. Ref German Translation of No More Parades.

1967 P. G. Wodehouse Company for Henry ix. 149 ‘I want his advice.’ ‘With ref. to what?’ ‘Oh, something that's coming up.’

1996 Inner Bookshop (Oxford) Catal. 1996–7 102 The philosophy of Sadhana. With special ref. to the Trika philosophy of Kashmir.

1884 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 25 Feb. (advt.) Wanted—young man for book-keeper in country store; refs. required.

1907 H. Westbrook & P. G. Wodehouse Not George Washington xvii. 183 Your refs. must be A1, or you don't stand an earthly.

1934 H. G. Wells Exper. in Autobiogr. I. iv. 161 Such questions seemed to me already of far more importance than satisfying J.K. or securing a satisfactory ‘ref.’ when my apprenticeship was up.

1996 TNT Mag. 8 July 156/3 (advt.) Driving licence and refs essential... Lovely house and friendly family.

1930 Times 27 Mar. 19/7 (advt.) Remance Mine (Map Ref. F/6).

1946 Jrnl. Rom. Stud. 36 146 (note) One-inch O.S. map, popular edn., Sheet 14, grid ref. 478311.

1959 J. Phillips Agric. & Ecol. Afr. xvi. 182 Some of the more humid northernmost portions of the woodland..are successional to forest (map ref. 2/16).

1990 Country Walking Jan. 52/1 The sugar beet disease Rhizomania was found nearby at Ref-775143.

2000 M. Fitt But n Ben A-go-go iii. 25 Juist the destination ref, boss. Whit raga quadrant are ye gaun tae?

1890 Punch 11 Jan. 15/1 But now the Ref., who saw the row increase, Declared a ‘draw’, and bade the combat cease.

1899 R. H. Barbour Half-back xxii. 233 De Farge (the referee) is awfully down on holding and off-side plays... But he's all right... He's the finest little ref that ever tossed a coin.

1939 War Illustr. 9 Dec. 394/3 Prisoners..are spending a happy hour kicking the ball about... An armed guard stands by, but not to protect the ‘ref’.

1957 I. Cross God Boy (1958) 108 You're a pretty good ref, Sister.

1976 Listener 29 Jan. 117/1 Adam is able to make good jokes about Cambridge..and there is no ref to blow the whistle on him.

2005 M. King She's got Next 155 The refs allowed coaches to step out on the court ‘for instruction’ as long as we didn't interfere with the game.

1929 R. C. Sherriff Journey's End ii. i. 50 Raleigh. Did you play Rugger? Osborne. Yes. But mostly reffing at school in the last few years.

1964 J. Hale Grudge Fight viii. 125 A scrum developed while Windy who was supposed to be reffing blew his whistle and went red in the face and didn't dare come too close.

1993 S. Turow Pleading Guilty (1994) vi. xxiv. 369 These days he taught grade school p.e. as a sub and reffed.

2003 T. Wheatley St. Louis Sports Folks 235 When I was reffing, I would talk to the players out there on the court if they were doing things I didn't like.