bind returns empty record first time

[Captain Dondo]

Ronan Flood wrote:

> Your ISP's nameservers (66.178.167.27 and 66.178.152.14) do not accept
> recursive queries; you should not have them in your resolv.conf.
> 
> Your ISP might have other nameservers which will accept recursive
> queries, which you should use instead; ask them.
> 

OK, thanks.  I sort of figured that out by trial and error....

What's a recursive query?  I know recursion, but I'm having a hard time 
applying it to a DNS lookup... I always thought DNS queries were 
flat-file, or store-and-forward....