Inventory, n.; pl. Inventories.
Etymology: [L. inventarium: cf. LL. inventorium, F. inventaire, OF. also inventoire. See Invent.]
An account, catalogue, or schedule, made by an executor or administrator, of all the goods and chattels, and sometimes of the real estate, of a deceased person; a list of the property of which a person or estate is found to be possessed; hence, an itemized list of goods or valuables, with their estimated worth; specifically, the annual account of stock taken in any business. There take an inventory of all I have. Shak.
Syn. -- List; register; schedule; catalogue. See List.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Inventory, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inventoried; p. pr. & vb. n. Inventorying.]
To make an inventory of; to make a list, catalogue, or schedule of; to insert or register in an account of goods; as, a merchant inventories his stock. I will give out divers schedules of my beauty; it shall be inventoried, and every particle and utensil labeled. Shak.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for inventory; he lists it under record.
Where he writes about it:
Record is a word of wide signification, applying to any writing, mark, or trace that serves as a memorial giving enduring attestation of an event or fact; an extended account, chronicle, or history is a record; so, too, may be a brief inventory or memorandum; the inscription on a tombstone is a record of the dead; the striae on a rock-surface are the record of a glacier's passage. — from record