The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Recommendation \Rec`om*men*da"tion\ (r?k`?m*m?n*d?"sh?n), n.
   [Cf. F. recommandation.]
   1. The act of recommending.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which recommends, or commends to favor; anything
      procuring, or tending to procure, a favorable reception,
      or to secure acceptance and adoption; as, he brought
      excellent recommendations.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. The state of being recommended; esteem. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

            The burying of the dead . . . hath always been had
            in an extraordinary recommendation amongst the
            ancient.                              --Sir T.
                                                  North.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

recommendation
    n 1: something (as a course of action) that is recommended as
         advisable
    2: something that recommends (or expresses commendation of) a
       person or thing as worthy or desirable [syn:
       recommendation, testimonial, good word]
    3: any quality or characteristic that gains a person a favorable
       reception or acceptance or admission; "her pleasant
       personality is already a recommendation"; "his wealth was not
       a passport into the exclusive circles of society" [syn:
       recommendation, passport]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

25 Moby Thesaurus words for "recommendation":
   advice, advocacy, approbation, approval, backing, blessing,
   character, commendation, counsel, direction, encouragement,
   endorsement, exhortation, good word, guidance, praise, promotion,
   prompting, proposal, reference, say-so, suggestion, support,
   testimonial, urging



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

RECOMMENDATION. The giving to a person a favorable character of another.
     2. When the party giving the character has acted in good faith, he is
not responsible for the injury which a third person, to whom such
recommendation was given, may have, sustained in consequence of it, although
he was mistaken.
     3. But when the recommendation is knowingly untrue, and an injury is
sustained, the party recommending is civilly responsible for damages; 3 T.
R. 51; 7 Cranch, 69; 14 Wend. 126; 7 Wend. 1; 6 Penn. St. R. 310 whether it
was done merely for the purpose of benefitting the party recommended, or the
party who gives the recommendation.
     4. And in case the party recommended was a debtor to the one
recommending, and it was agreed prior to the transaction, that the former
should, out of the property to be obtained by the recommendation, be paid;
or in case of any other species of collusion, to cheat the person to whom
the credit is given, they may both be criminally prosecuted for the
conspiracy. Vide Character, and Fell on Guar. ch. 8; 6 Johns. R. 181; 1
Davis Ca. Er. 22; 13 Johns. R. 224; 5 N. S. 443.