[rec.og.ni.tion] n [ME recognicion, fr. L recognition-, recognitio, fr. recognoscere] (15c) 1: the action of recognizing: the state of being recognized: as a: acknowledgment; esp: formal acknowledgment of the political existence of a government or nation b: knowledge or feeling that someone or something present has been encountered before
2: special notice or attention
3: the sensing and encoding of printed or written data by a machine "o ptical character ~" "magnetic ink character ~"