Word.ws English Dictionary

works the refs

works the refs is the third-person singular simple present indicative of work the refs.

Meaning of work the refs

Verb

work the refs (third-person singular simple present works the refs, present participle working the refs, simple past and past participle worked the refs)

  1. To attempt to persuade the referee or other officials to view the players on one's team with a sympathetic bias.
    • You should also work the refs during pregame warmups, telling them how hard your players work on blocking out in practice and hope that the refs give your players a fair chance.1996, William E. Warren, L. Chapman, Basketball Coach's Survival Guide, →ISBN, page 233
  2. (broadly) To manipulate the press to view one's candidate favorably and to report negative stories on one's opponent.
    • Slater said that Bush would charm reporters in an attempt to "work the refs" much like a basketball coach will try to cajole and hassle referees in order to influence calls.2006, James E. Mueller, Towel Snapping the Press, →ISBN

Questions about works the refs

What is works the refs the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Works the refs is the third-person singular simple present indicative of work the refs.

Words near works the refs in the dictionary

  1. works the crowd
  2. works the hole
  3. works the hyphens
  4. works the line
  5. works the oracle
  6. works the refs
  7. works the room
  8. works the system
  9. works through
  10. works to rule
  11. works together

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: works the refs (page history and authors); work the refs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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