record Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
    • the film provided a valuable record of stage techniques
  2. noun sound recording consisting of a disk with a continuous groove; used to reproduce music by rotating while a phonograph needle tracks in the groove
    phonograph recording; platter; phonograph record; disc; disk.
  3. noun the number of wins versus losses and ties a team has had
    • at 9-0 they have the best record in their league
  4. noun the sum of recognized accomplishments
    track record.
    • the lawyer has a good record
    • the track record shows that he will be a good president
  5. noun a compilation of the known facts regarding something or someone
    record book; book.
    • Al Smith used to say, `Let's look at the record'
    • his name is in all the record books
  6. noun an extreme attainment; the best (or worst) performance ever attested (as in a sport)
    • he tied the Olympic record
    • coffee production last year broke all previous records
    • Chicago set the homicide record
  7. noun a document that can serve as legal evidence of a transaction
    • they could find no record of the purchase
  8. noun a list of crimes for which an accused person has been previously convicted
    criminal record.
    • he ruled that the criminal record of the defendant could not be disclosed to the court
    • the prostitute had a record a mile long
  9. verb make a record of; set down in permanent form
    put down; enter.
  10. verb register electronically
    tape.
    • They recorded her singing
  11. verb indicate a certain reading; of gauges and instruments
    read; register; show.
    • The thermometer showed thirteen degrees below zero
    • The gauge read `empty'
  12. verb be aware of
    register.
    • Did you register any change when I pressed the button?
  13. verb be or provide a memorial to a person or an event
    immortalize; memorialise; commemorate; memorialize; immortalise.
    • This sculpture commemorates the victims of the concentration camps
    • We memorialized the Dead

WordNet

Re*cord" transitive verb
Etymology
OE. recorden to repeat, remind, F. recorder, fr. L. recordari to remember; pref. re- re- + cor, cordis, the heart or mind. See Cordial, Heart.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Recorded; present participle & verbal noun Recording
Definitions
  1. To recall to mind; to recollect; to remember; to meditate. Obs. "I it you record." Chaucer.
  2. To repeat; to recite; to sing or play. Obs.
    They longed to see the day, to hear the lark Record her hymns, and chant her carols blest. Fairfax.
  3. To preserve the memory of, by committing to writing, to printing, to inscription, or the like; to make note of; to write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving authentic evidence of; to register; to enroll; as, to record the proceedings of a court; to record historical events.
    Those things that are recorded of him . . . are written in the chronicles of the kings. 1 Esd. i. 42.
Re*cord" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To reflect; to ponder. Obs.
    Praying all the way, and recording upon the words which he before had read. Fuller.
  2. To sing or repeat a tune. Obs. Shak.
    Whether the birds or she recorded best. W. Browne.
Rec"ord noun
Etymology
OF. recort, record, remembrance, attestation, record. See Record, v. t.
Definitions
  1. A writing by which same act or event, or a number of acts or events, is recorded; a register; as, a record of the acts of the Hebrew kings; a record of the variations of temperature during a certain time; a family record.
  2. Especially: (a) An official contemporaneous writing by which the acts of some public body, or public officer, are recorded; as, a record of city ordinances; the records of the receiver of taxes. (b) An authentic official copy of a document which has been entered in a book, or deposited in the keeping of some officer designated by law. (c) An official contemporaneous memorandum stating the proceedings of a court of justice; a judicial record. (d) The various legal papers used in a case, together with memoranda of the proceedings of the court; as, it is not permissible to allege facts not in the record.
  3. Testimony; witness; attestation.
    John bare record, saying. John i. 32
    .
  4. That which serves to perpetuate a knowledge of acts or events; a monument; a memorial.
  5. That which has been, or might be, recorded; the known facts in the course, progress, or duration of anything, as in the life of a public man; as, a politician with a good or a bad record.
  6. That which has been publicly achieved in any kind of competitive sport as recorded in some authoritative manner, as the time made by a winning horse in a race.

Webster 1913