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re·cord (rĭ-kôrd)
Share:
v. re·cord·ed, re·cord·ing, re·cords
v.tr.
1. To set down for preservation in writing or other permanent form: She recorded her thoughts in a diary.
2. To register or indicate: The clerk recorded the votes.
3.
a. To render (sound or images) into permanent form for reproduction in a magnetic or electronic medium.
b. To record the words, sound, appearance, or performance of (someone or something): recorded the oldest townspeople on tape; recorded the violin concerto.
v.intr.
To record something.
n. rec·ord (rĕkərd)
1.
a. An account, as of information or facts, set down especially in writing as a means of preserving knowledge.
b. Something on which such an account is based.
c. Something that records: a fossil record.
2. Information or data on a particular subject collected and preserved: the coldest day on record.
3. The known history of performance, activities, or achievement: your academic record; hampered by a police record.
4. An unsurpassed measurement: a world record in weightlifting; a record for cold weather.
5. Computers A collection of related, often adjacent items of data, treated as a unit.
6. Law A transcript or a collection of statements and related information reporting the proceedings of a legislative body, a court, or an executive.
7.
a. A disk designed to be played on a phonograph.
b. A musical recording that is issued on a medium of some kind.
Idioms:
go on record
To embrace a certain position publicly: go on record in favor of the mayor's reelection.
off the record
Not for publication: The senator told the reporters that his remarks were strictly off the record.
on record
Known to have been stated or to have taken a certain position: The senator's opposition to the new legislation is on record.

[Middle English recorden, from Old French recorder, from Latin recordārī, to remember : re-, re- + cor, cord-, heart; see kerd- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.