Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

call-by-reference
     
        An argument passing convention where the address of an
        argument variable is passed to a function or procedure, as
        opposed to where the value of the argument expression is
        passed.  Execution of the function or procedure may have
        {side-effect}s on the actual argument as seen by the caller.
        The C language's "&" (address of) and "*" (dereference)
        operators allow the programmer to code explicit
        call-by-reference.  Other languages provide special syntax to
        declare reference arguments (e.g. {ALGOL 60}).  See also
        {call-by-name}, {call-by-value}, {call-by-value-result}.