videotape
videotape Lexical Profile
videotape Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Magnetic tape used for recording and playing back moving visual images and sound, or a cassette containing such tape.
"The historical archive is currently digitizing thousands of hours of old broadcast videotape from the 1980s."
A visual and audio recording made on magnetic tape or a similar medium.
"The defense attorney presented a timestamped videotape showing the client at a grocery store across town."
• verb
To record moving images and sound on magnetic tape or another video medium.
"The proud parents decided to videotape the entire graduation ceremony from the front row."
Word Nuance & Usage
Although magnetic tape is largely obsolete in everyday use, 'videotape' is still commonly used as a verb to mean recording video on digital devices, though 'record' or 'film' is now preferred by younger speakers.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 1950s in the United States as a compound of 'video' (from Latin 'videre', meaning 'to see') and 'tape' (from Old English 'tæppe', meaning 'strip of cloth'), coinciding with the invention of commercial magnetic video recording.