What is "referee"

Referee \Ref`er*ee"\ (-?), n. 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.

Syn: Judge; arbitrator; umpire. See Judge.

1620s, "person who examines patent applications" (see refer). Sporting use recorded by 1820 (specifically of baseball from 1856).

1883, originally colloquial, from referee (n.). Related: Refereed; refereeing.

n. 1 (context sports English) An umpire or judge; the official who makes sure the rules are followed during a game. 2 A person who settles a dispute. 3 A person who writes a letter of reference or provides a reference by phone call for someone. 4 An expert who judges the manuscript of an article or book to decide if it should be published. vb. To act as a referee.

1. n. (sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play [syn: ref]

2. someone who reads manuscripts and judges their suitability for publication [syn: reviewer, reader]

3. an attorney appointed by a court to investigate and report on a case

4. v. be a referee or umpire in a sports competition [syn: umpire]

5. evaluate professionally a colleague's work [syn: peer review]

A referee or simply ref is the person of authority in a variety of sports who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on-the-fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known, in addition to referee, by a variety of other titles as well (often depending on the sport), including umpire, judge, arbiter, arbitrator, linesman, commissaire, timekeeper, touch judge or Technical Official (by the International Olympic Committee).

The referee in boxing is the individual charged with enforcing the rules of that sport during a match.

Referee is a public artwork by American artist Tom Queoff, located on the south entrance of the U.S. Cellular Arena, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The 9 foot laminated marble sculpture depicts an abstracted referee with legs spread apart and arms raised.

A referee controls matches in the sport of futsal, a variant of association football.

In association football, the referee is the person responsible for enforcing the Laws of the Game during the course of a match. He or she is the final decision-making authority on all facts connected with play, and is the only official on the pitch with the authority to start and stop play and impose disciplinary action against players during a match. At most levels of play the referee is assisted by two assistant referees (formerly known as linesmen), who are empowered to advise the referee in certain situations such as the ball leaving play or infringements of the Laws of the Game occurring out of the view of the referee; however, the assistant referees' decisions are not binding and the referee has authority to overrule an assistant referee. At higher levels of play the referee may also be assisted by a fourth official who supervises the teams' technical areas and assists the referee with administrative tasks.

Referees' remuneration for their services varies between leagues. Many are wholly amateur, some may be paid a small fee and/or expenses, and in some countries a limited number of referees – mainly those officiate in their country's top league – are employed full-time by their national associations and receive a retainer at the start of every season plus match fees.

Referees are licensed and trained by the same national organisations that are members of FIFA. Each national organisation recommends its top officials to FIFA to have the additional honour of being included on the FIFA International Referees List. International games between national teams require FIFA officials. Otherwise, the local national organisation determines the manner of training, ranking and advancement of officials from the youngest youth games through professional matches.

A referee is an official in a sports game.

A referee may also be:

• One who engages in scholarly peer review
• One who provides a reference
• In law, a special referee, a judge who acts on matters of fact only
• A gamemaster for a role-playing game

Referee or The Referee may also refer to:

• The Referee (newspaper), published in Sydney, Australia from 1886 to 1939
• The Referee (film), a 2010 Swedish documentary
• Sunday Referee, a British newspaper founded as The Referee
• Referee, a magazine on sports officiating published in Wisconsin, U.S.

In professional wrestling, a referee is an authority figure present in or near the ring during matches. The referee's on-stage ( kayfabe) purpose is similar to that of referees in combat sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, that is, as an arbiter of the rules and the person charged with rendering decisions. In reality, the referee is, like the wrestlers, a participant in executing a match in accordance with its script including its pre-determined outcome, and is responsible for controlling the flow of the match and for relaying information or instructions from backstage officials to the wrestlers. Like wrestlers, referees are also responsible for maintaining kayfabe, and must render decisions in accordance with the promotion's kayfabe rules.