recorder

[ ri-kawr-der ]

noun

1. a person who records, especially as an official duty.
2. English Law.
   1. a judge in a city or borough court.
   2. (formerly) the legal adviser of a city or borough, with responsibility for keeping a record of legal actions and local customs.
3. a recording or registering apparatus or device.
4. a device for recording sound, images, or data by electrical, magnetic, or optical means.
5. an end-blown flute having a fipple mouthpiece, eight finger holes, and a soft, mellow tone.

recorder

/ rɪˈkɔːdə /

noun

1. a person who records, such as an official or historian
2. something that records, esp an apparatus that provides a permanent record of experiments, etc
3. short for tape recorder
4. music a wind instrument of the flute family, blown through a fipple in the mouth end, having a reedlike quality of tone. There are four usual sizes: bass, tenor, treble, and descant
5. (in England) a barrister or solicitor of at least ten years' standing appointed to sit as a part-time judge in the crown court

recorder

1. A wooden flute played like a whistle. It was popular in the fourteenth through eighteenth centuries. Interest in it has been revived over the past few decades.

Derived Forms

• reˈcorderˌship, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of recorder¹

1275–1325; Middle English recorder wind instrument ( record, -er ¹ ), recordour legal official (< Anglo-French recordour, Old French recordeour )

Word History and Origins

Origin of recorder¹

sense 4 probably from record ( vb ) in the archaic sense "to sing"

Example Sentences

If a vote-by-mail ballot is dropped off in another county’s drop box, election officials must send it to the correct county recorder’s office to be tallied.

From Los Angeles Times

During one interview, she wrote, detectives repeatedly stopped the tape recorder to remind her what to say, sometimes yelling or making threats.

From Los Angeles Times

I sang it into a tape recorder that I had in the car, and I did a demo and sent it to the director, Joel Schumacher, who I loved working with.

From Los Angeles Times

They have EMF meters to detect changes in electromagnetic fields, audio recorders and a camera.

From BBC

Whether it's tapping a keyboard, playing the recorder or mastering the maracas, lots of us have probably had similar experiences of music lessons in school.

From BBC

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