Transcription \Tran*scrip"tion\ (tr[a^]n*skr[i^]p"sh[u^]n), n. [Cf. F. transcription, L. transcriptio a transfer.]

1. The act or process of transcribing, or copying; as, corruptions creep into books by repeated transcriptions.

2. A copy; a transcript. --Walton.

3. (Mus.) An arrangement of a composition for some other instrument or voice than that for which it was originally written, as the translating of a song, a vocal or instrumental quartet, or even an orchestral work, into a piece for the piano; an adaptation; an arrangement; -- a name applied by modern composers for the piano to a more or less fanciful and ornate reproduction on their own instrument of a song or other piece not originally intended for it; as, Liszt's transcriptions of songs by Schubert.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)