function

(function name) or #'name

Looks up name in the function namespace and returns the corresponding function as a first-class value; #'name is reader shorthand for (function name). The argument is a name, not an evaluated expression. This is how a named function (or a lambda) is obtained so it can be passed to funcall/apply or a higher-order function like mapcar -- necessary in a Lisp-2 because a bare symbol refers to the variable namespace.