Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

an electronic device which can record electronic signals, as from a television program, on magnetic tape contained in a videocassette, and can also play back the recording. It is used, for example, to record television programs broadcast at some particular time, which can then be viewed at any subsequent time by attaching the videocassette recorder to a television receiver and playing the signals through the television receiver. Also called VCR.