to break the record

Record \Rec"ord\ (r[e^]k"[~e]rd), n. [OF. recort, record,
   remembrance, attestation, record. See {Record}, v. t.]
   1. A writing by which some act or event, or a number of acts
      or events, is recorded; a register; as, a record of the
      acts of the Hebrew kings; a record of the variations of
      temperature during a certain time; a family record.
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   2. Especially:
      (a) An official contemporaneous writing by which the acts
          of some public body, or public officer, are recorded;
          as, a record of city ordinances; the records of the
          receiver of taxes.
      (b) An authentic official copy of a document which has
          been entered in a book, or deposited in the keeping of
          some officer designated by law.
      (c) An official contemporaneous memorandum stating the
          proceedings of a court of justice; a judicial record.
      (d) The various legal papers used in a case, together with
          memoranda of the proceedings of the court; as, it is
          not permissible to allege facts not in the record.
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   3. Testimony; witness; attestation.
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            John bare record, saying.             --John i. 32.
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   4. That which serves to perpetuate a knowledge of acts or
      events; a monument; a memorial.
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   5. That which has been, or might be, recorded; the known
      facts in the course, progress, or duration of anything, as
      in the life of a public man; as, a politician with a good
      or a bad record.
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   6. That which has been publicly achieved in any kind of
      competitive sport as recorded in some authoritative
      manner, as the time made by a winning horse in a race.
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   {Court of record} (pron. r?*k?rd" in Eng.), a court whose
      acts and judicial proceedings are written on parchment or
      in books for a perpetual memorial.

   {Debt of record}, a debt which appears to be due by the
      evidence of a court of record, as upon a judgment or a
      cognizance.

   {Trial by record}, a trial which is had when a matter of
      record is pleaded, and the opposite party pleads that
      there is no such record. In this case the trial is by
      inspection of the record itself, no other evidence being
      admissible. --Blackstone.

   {To beat the record}, or {To break the record} (Sporting), to
      surpass any performance of like kind as authoritatively
      recorded; as, to break the record in a walking match.

   Note: Records in many fields of endeavor are listed in the [a
         href="http:]/www.guinessworldrecords.com">Guiness Book
         of World Records.
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