History

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  History \His"to*ry\, n.; pl. {Histories}. [L. historia, Gr.
     'istori`a history, information, inquiry, fr. 'istwr, "istwr,
     knowing, learned, from the root of ? to know; akin to E. wit.
     See {Wit}, and cf. {Story}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A learning or knowing by inquiry; the knowledge of facts


        and events, so obtained; hence, a formal statement of such
        information; a narrative; a description; a written record;
        as, the history of a patient's case; the history of a
        legislative bill.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A systematic, written account of events, particularly of
        those affecting a nation, institution, science, or art,
        and usually connected with a philosophical explanation of
        their causes; a true story, as distinguished from a
        romance; -- distinguished also from annals, which relate
        simply the facts and events of each year, in strict
        chronological order; from biography, which is the record
        of an individual's life; and from memoir, which is history
        composed from personal experience, observation, and
        memory.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Histories are as perfect as the historian is wise,
              and is gifted with an eye and a soul. --Carlyle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For aught that I could ever read,
              Could ever hear by tale or history.   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What histories of toil could I declare! --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {History piece}, a representation in painting, drawing, etc.,
        of any real event, including the actors and the action.
  
     {Natural history}, a description and classification of
        objects in nature, as minerals, plants, animals, etc., and
        the phenomena which they exhibit to the senses.
  
     Syn: Chronicle; annals; relation; narration.
  
     Usage: {History}, {Chronicle}, {Annals}. History is a
            methodical record of important events which concern a
            community of men, usually so arranged as to show the
            connection of causes and effects, to give an analysis
            of motive and action etc. A chronicle is a record of
            such events, conforming to the order of time as its
            distinctive feature. Annals are a chronicle divided up
            into separate years. By poetic license annals is
            sometimes used for history.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Justly C[ae]sar scorns the poet's lays;
                  It is to history he trusts for praise. --Pope.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  No more yet of this;
                  For 't is a chronicle of day by day,
                  Not a relation for a breakfast.   --Shak.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Many glorious examples in the annals of our
                  religion.                         --Rogers.
            [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  History \His"to*ry\, v. t.
     To narrate or record. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  history
       n 1: the aggregate of past events; "a critical time in the
            school's history"
       2: the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from
          the past to the present and even into the future; "all of
          human history"
       3: a record or narrative description of past events; "a history
          of France"; "he gave an inaccurate account of the plot to
          kill the president"; "the story of exposure to lead" [syn:
           {account}, {chronicle}, {story}]
       4: the discipline that records and interprets past events
          involving human beings; "he teaches Medieval history";
          "history takes the long view"
       5: all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing;
          a body of knowledge; "the dawn of recorded history"; "from
          the beginning of history"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  104 Moby Thesaurus words for "history":
     Clio, Muse of history, account, adventures, ancient history,
     annals, antiquity, autobiography, background, biographical sketch,
     biography, bygone days, bygone times, case history, catalog,
     chronicle, chronicles, chronology, confessions, correspondence,
     curriculum vitae, days gone by, days of yore, dead letter,
     dead past, depiction, description, diary, documentation, epic,
     experience, experiences, foretime, former times, fortunes,
     hagiography, hagiology, historiography, information, intelligence,
     inventory, journal, legend, letters, life, life and letters,
     life story, list, martyrology, memoir, memoirs, memorabilia,
     memorial, memorials, narration, narrative, necrology, news,
     obituary, old hat, past, past history, past times, photobiography,
     pipe roll, portrayal, profile, recapitulation, recent past,
     recital, record, recording, register, registry, relation, relic,
     remains, report, representation, resume, retailing, retelling,
     roll, rolls, roster, rota, saga, scroll, story, summary, table,
     tale, telling, the irrevocable Past, the past, theory of history,
     thou unrelenting past, times past, token, trace, version, vestige,
     yesterday, yesteryear
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  history
       
          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
          (http://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)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  HISTORY, evidence. The recital of facts written and given out for true. 
       2. Facts stated in histories may be read in evidence, on the ground of 
  their notoriety. Skin. R. 14; 1 Ventr. R. 149. But these facts must be of a 
  public nature, and the general usages and customs of the country. Bull. P. 
  248; 7 Pet. R. 554; 1 Phil. & Am. Ev. 606; 30 Howell's St. Tr. 492. 
  Histories are not admissible in relation to matters not of a public nature, 
  such as the custom of a particular town, a descent, the boundaries of a 
  county, and the like. 1 Salk. 281; S. C. Skin. 623; T. Jones, 164; 6 C. & P. 
  586, note. See 9 Ves. 347; 10 Ves. 354; 3 John. 385; 1 Binn. 399; and 
  Notoriety. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  HISTORY, n.  An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant,
  which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly
  fools.
  
      Of Roman history, great Niebuhr's shown
      'Tis nine-tenths lying.  Faith, I wish 'twere known,
      Ere we accept great Niebuhr as a guide,
      Wherein he blundered and how much he lied.
                                                             Salder Bupp