recorder
    n 1: equipment for making records [syn: recorder, recording
         equipment, recording machine]
    2: someone responsible for keeping records [syn: registrar,
       record-keeper, recorder]
    3: a barrister or solicitor who serves as part-time judge in
       towns or boroughs
    4: a tubular wind instrument with 8 finger holes and a fipple
       mouthpiece [syn: fipple flute, fipple pipe, recorder,
       vertical flute]

Recorder \Re*cord"er\ (r?*k?rd"?r), n.
   1. One who records; specifically, a person whose official
      duty it is to make a record of writings or transactions.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. The title of the chief judical officer of some cities and
      boroughs; also, of the chief justice of an East Indian
      settlement. The Recorder of London is judge of the Lord
      Mayor's Court, and one of the commissioners of the Central
      Criminal Court.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Mus.) A kind of wind instrument resembling the flageolet.
      [Obs.] "Flutes and soft recorders." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

Recorder
   (Heb. mazkir, i.e., "the mentioner," "rememberancer"), the
   office first held by Jehoshaphat in the court of David (2 Sam.
   8:16), also in the court of Solomon (1 Kings 4:3). The next
   recorder mentioned is Joah, in the reign of Hezekiah (2 Kings
   18:18, 37; Isa. 36:3, 22). In the reign of Josiah another of the
   name of Joah filled this office (2 Chr. 34:8). The "recorder"
   was the chancellor or vizier of the kingdom. He brought all
   weighty matters under the notice of the king, "such as
   complaints, petitions, and wishes of subjects or foreigners. He
   also drew up papers for the king's guidance, and prepared drafts
   of the royal will for the scribes. All treaties came under his
   oversight; and he had the care of the national archives or
   records, to which, as royal historiographer, like the same state
   officer in Assyria and Egypt, he added the current annals of the
   kingdom."
   

RECORDER. 1. A judicial officer of some cities, possessing generally the 
powers and authority of a judge. 3 Yeates' R. 300; 4 Dall. Rep. 299; but see 
1 Rep. Const. Ct. 45. Anciently, recorder signified to recite or testify on 
re-collection as occasion might require what had previously passed in court, 
and this was the duty of the judges, thence called recordeurs. Steph. Plead. 
note 11. 2. An officer appointed to make record or enrollment of deeds and 
other legal instruments, authorized by law to be recorded.