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A reference inside a text pointing to the source of an idea, fact, or quote, matched to an entry in the bibliography.
Merriam-Webster’s senses are “an official summons to appear (as before a court)”; “an act of quoting; especially: the citing of a previously settled case at law”; an excerpt or quotation; and a formal statement of commendation. First recorded in the fourteenth century, in the legal-summons sense.
A discrepancy worth stating rather than hiding. Merriam-Webster records a court summons, an act of quoting (especially of settled case law), an excerpt, and a formal commendation. The sense this entry defines — a reference inside a text pointing to the source of an idea, fact or quote, matched to an entry in a reference list — is a specialised usage the dictionary does not carry. The citation above therefore sources the word and its ordinary meaning, not the specialised sense; that belongs to the literature of the field, and this entry will cite it when a signed, dated source for it has actually been read.
From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).
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