recorder

UK: /rɪˈkɔː^rdə^r/ US: /rɪˈkɔrdɚ/ ,(ri kôr′dər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

re•cord•er /rɪˈkɔrdɚ/   n. [countable]

1. a person who records, esp. as an official duty.
2. Sound Reproduction a device or apparatus for recording sound, images, data, or information:
   a tape recorder.
3. Music and Dance a flute with a mouthpiece like a whistle.

See -cord-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

re•cord•er  (ri kôr′dər), n. 

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

• Anglo-French recordour, Old French recordeour)
• Middle English recorder wind instrument (see record, -er¹), recordour legal official (1275–1325

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

recorder / rɪˈkɔːdə/ noun

1. a person who records, such as an official or historian
2. a thing that records, esp an apparatus that provides a permanent record of experiments, etc
3. short for tape recorder
4. 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 and Wales) a barrister or solicitor of at least ten years' standing appointed to sit as a part-time judge in the crown court

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

reˈcorderˌship noun