recorder
Americannoun
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a person who records, especially as an official duty.
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English Law.
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a judge in a city or borough court.
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(formerly) the legal adviser of a city or borough, with responsibility for keeping a record of legal actions and local customs.
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a recording or registering apparatus or device.
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a device for recording sound, images, or data by electrical, magnetic, or optical means.
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an end-blown flute having a fipple mouthpiece, eight finger holes, and a soft, mellow tone.
noun
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a person who records, such as an official or historian
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something that records, esp an apparatus that provides a permanent record of experiments, etc
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short for tape recorder
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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
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(in England) a barrister or solicitor of at least ten years' standing appointed to sit as a part-time judge in the crown court
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of recorder
1275–1325; Middle English recorder wind instrument ( see record, -er 1), recordour legal official (< Anglo-French recordour, Old French recordeour )
Explanation
A recorder is a machine that reproduces (or records) sound. A reporter might use a recorder during an interview. A recorder is also often a first musical instrument for kids, who crank out “Hot Cross Buns” at top volume. A digital recorder and the recorder on your cell phone are both examples of electronic recorders. A person whose job involves taking notes or keeping written records during a meeting can also be called a recorder. A now-obsolete meaning of the verb record is "practice a tune," and from this came the 15th century name of the musical instrument called a recorder. These wind instruments are still around, not just in elementary schools.
Vocabulary lists containing recorder
Music - Introductory
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When Recorder Kate Livesey said the egg was "quite extraordinary looking", Porter-Windley said it was "so extraordinary that he wouldn't know on the face of it whether that was high value or not".
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026
She started her career at legal-affairs newspaper the Recorder in San Francisco.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026
Newspapers ran in Fern’s blood—her father was the founder of the religious newspaper the Recorder, for which young Fern copy-edited and contributed the occasional article; and her brother Nathaniel edited New York’s Home Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026
Passing sentence, Recorder Nicholas Bacon KC noted the find of the brooch was initially treated as significant.
From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026
So it will be until the Great Recorder sums me up and closes my ledger account with a balance to profit or loss.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
