Definition of: record

(rek′ərd) noun
1. An account in written or other permanent form serving as a memorial or authentic evidence of a fact or event.
2. Something on which such an account is made, as a document or monument.
3. Information on facts or events, preserved and handed down: the heaviest rainfall on record.
4. The known career or performance of a person, animal, organization, etc., regarded as a series of things done or achieved: a good record in politics.
5. The best listed achievement, as in a competitive sport: to beat the world record.
6. Law a A written account of an act, statement, or transaction made by an officer acting under authority of law, and intended as permanent evidence thereon, b An official written account of a judicial or legislative proceeding, including the judgments or enactments and an official copy of all related documents.
7. A cylinder, disk, roll, or other article perforated, indented, or otherwise prepared so as to reproduce sounds.
—off the record
1. Unofficial or unofficially.
2. Not for quotation or publication, or not from a source to be identified.
—adjective Surpassing any previously recorded achievement or performance of its kind: a record vote.
—re·cord (ri·kôrd′) v.t.
1. To write down or otherwise inscribe, as for preserving an authentic account, evidence, etc.
2. To indicate; register, especially in permanent form, as a cardiograph does.
3. To make a phonograph record of.
—v.i.
4. To record something. [<OF <recorder <L recordari call to mind <re- again + cor, cordis heart, mind] Synonyms (noun): account, archives, catalog, chronicle, document, enrolment, entry, enumeration, history, inscription, instrument, inventory, memorandum, memorial, muniment, register, roll, scroll. Record is a word of wide signification, applying to any writing, mark, or trace that serves as a memorial giving enduring attestation of an event or fact; an extended account, chronicle, or history is a record; so, too, may be a brief inventory or memorandum. A memorial is any object, whether a writing, a monument, or other permanent thing that is designed or adapted to keep something in remembrance. A register is a formal or official written record, especially a series of entries made for preservation or reference; as, a register of births and deaths. Archives, in the sense here considered, are documents or records, often legal records, preserved in a public or official depository; the word archives is also applied to the place where such documents are regularly deposited and preserved. Muniments are records that enable one to defend his title. See CHARACTER, HISTORY, REPORT, STORY¹.