1. To consult, to talk over, and to discuss: The teachers, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones, were conferring with Mrs. Black, the specialist, in an effort to make mathematics more interesting and easier to accomplish better results for their students.
2. To award, bestow, or to hand out: President Dean of the university conferred an honorary degree to Mayor Stevens in recognition of her support of the university's fund raising efforts.

Compare, refer to.

The element cf. means "refer to". The abbreviation is most often seen in English writing. It may be used, for example, to invite readers to compare an author's discussion with that presented in another work, but the important fact to bear in mind is that cf. does not merely mean "see" or "see also".

The full Latin word confer is never seen in modern texts.