history

[his-tuh-ree, his-tree] /ˈhɪs tə ri, ˈhɪs tri/
noun, plural histories.
1.
the branch of knowledge dealing with past events.
2.
a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account; chronicle:
a history of France; a medical history of the patient.
3.
the aggregate of past events.
4.
the record of past events and times, especially in connection with the human race.
5.
a past notable for its important, unusual, or interesting events:
a ship with a history.
6.
acts, ideas, or events that will or can shape the course of the future; immediate but significant happenings:
Firsthand observers of our space program see history in the making.
7.
a systematic account of any set of natural phenomena without particular reference to time:
a history of the American eagle.
8.
a drama representing historical events:
Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English historie < Latin historia < Greek historía learning or knowing by inquiry, history; derivative of hístōr one who knows or sees (akin to wit, video, veda)
Related forms
underhistory, noun, plural underhistories.
unhistory, noun, plural unhistories.
Synonyms
2. record, annals. See narrative.
Examples from the web for history
  • The control group did a more conventional cognitive learning program that entailed viewing educational videos on art and history.
  • The history of this friendly place dates back to the late 1800s.
  • In all history, humans found just one remedy against error - criticism.
  • People will have to rewrite history now.
  • The opening chapters deal with a part of history wholly neglected in Russia.
  • Shannon's story is only one of many in this sprawling history of information.
  • This is not science, it's history.
  • Back in 1952 he performed what has become an iconic experiment in the history of science.
  • Mining of course has also been a key element of local history.
  • Little did he realize he was making cinematic history.
British Dictionary definitions for history

history

/ˈhɪstərɪ; ˈhɪstrɪ/
noun (pl) -ries
1.
  1. a record or account, often chronological in approach, of past events, developments, etc
  2. (as modifier): a history book, a history play
2.
all that is preserved or remembered of the past, esp in written form
3.
the discipline of recording and interpreting past events involving human beings
4.
past events, esp when considered as an aggregate
5.
an event in the past, esp one that has been forgotten or reduced in importance: their quarrel was just history
6.
the past, background, previous experiences, etc, of a thing or person: the house had a strange history
7.
(computing) a stored list of the websites that a user has recently visited
8.
a play that depicts or is based on historical events
9.
a narrative relating the events of a character's life: the history of Joseph Andrews
Abbreviation (for senses 1–3) hist
Word Origin
C15: from Latin historia, from Greek: enquiry, from historein to narrate, from histōr judge
Word Origin and History for history
n.

late 14c., "relation of incidents" (true or false), from Old French estoire, estorie "chronicle, history, story" (12c., Modern French histoire), from Latin historia "narrative of past events, account, tale, story," from Greek historia "a learning or knowing by inquiry; an account of one's inquiries, history, record, narrative," from historein "inquire," from histor "wise man, judge," from PIE *wid-tor-, from root *weid- "to know," literally "to see" (see vision).

Related to Greek idein "to see," and to eidenai "to know." In Middle English, not differentiated from story; sense of "record of past events" probably first attested late 15c. As a branch of knowledge, from 1842. Sense of "systematic account (without reference to time) of a set of natural phenomena" (1560s) is now obsolete except in natural history.

One difference between history and imaginative literature ... is that history neither anticipates nor satisfies our curiosity, whereas literature does. [Guy Davenport, "Wheel Ruts," 1996]

Slang definitions & phrases for history

history

adjective

Finished; done with; hist: It's been history, I'd say, four months (1980s+ Students)


history in Technology

1. A record of previous user inputs (e.g. to a command interpreter) which can be re-entered without re-typing them. The major improvement of the C shell (csh) over the Bourne shell (sh) was the addition of a command history. This was still inferior to the history mechanism on VMS which allowed you to recall previous commands as the current input line. You could then edit the command using cursor motion, insert and delete. These sort of history editing facilities are available under tcsh and GNU Emacs.
2. The history of computing (https://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/index.html).
3. See Usenet newsgroups news:soc.history and news:alt.history for discussion of the history of the world.
(1995-04-05)
Idioms and Phrases with history

history

see: