history

plural histories · alternative Hx · alternative hx · alternative obsolete historie · alternative obsolete hystorie · alternative nonstandard hystory

1. countableuncountableThe aggregate of past events, both unrecorded and recorded.

   He dreams of an invention that will make history.

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   The history of mammals stretches back many millions of years.

   History repeats itself if we don’t learn from its mistakes.

   With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?

   2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164

   So, we have a shared history - we will also have a shared future.

   2017 June 24, James O'Shea, quoting Gerry Adams, “BREAKING: Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams says end to partition of Ireland “in a few short years””, in IrishCentral

   Synonyms: past, ages, background

2. countableuncountableThe empirical study of past events, as distinct from literature, myth, or scripture; the assessment of notable events.

   He teaches Latin American history at the university and publishes books about the Cold War.

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   History and experience act as a filter that can distort as much as elucidate. It is largely forgotten now, overlooked in the one-line description of Tony Blair and George W Bush as the men who lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, but there was a wider context to their conviction.

   2013 September 6, Peter Beaumont, “Lessons of past cast shadows over Syria”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 13, page 18

3. countableuncountableThe portion of the past that is known and recorded by this field of study, as opposed to all earlier and unknown times that preceded it.

   Near-synonym: ages

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   in all of human history and prehistory

   since the dawn of history

   Synonyms: ages

4. countableA set of events involving an entity.

   a long and sordid history

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   What is your medical history?

   The family's history includes events best forgotten.

   This car has something of a history attached to it.

   [I]n the 575 days since [Oscar] Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.

   2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)

5. countableA record or narrative description of past events.

   a short history of post-Columbian colonization

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   I really enjoyed Shakespeare's tragedies more than his histories.

   Thucydides wrote a history of the Peleponnesian War that uses different sources than Herodotus' work.

   Synonyms: account, chronicle, story, tale

6. countablemedicineA list of past and continuing medical conditions of an individual or family.

   He has a history of cancer in his family.

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   A personal medical history is required for the insurance policy.

   This diagnosis is usually based solely on the history and physical examination, although laboratory tests are occasionally also obtained.

   Synonyms: medical history

7. countablecomputingA record of previous user events, especially of visited web pages in a browser.

   I visited a great site yesterday but forgot the URL. Luckily, I didn't clear my history.

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   When you do that, the browser window has no browser history, so it doesn't report a referrer page to the first site you visit.

   2006, Todd Stauffer, Kirk McElhearn, Mastering Mac OS X, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 344

   Synonyms: log

8. countableinformaluncountableSomething that no longer exists or is no longer relevant.

   I told him that if he doesn't get his act together, he's history.

9. uncountableShared experience or interaction.

   He has had a lot of history with the police.

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   There is too much history between them for them to split up now.

10. uncountableA historically significant event.

    You are witnessing history!

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    We have a new president: Barack Obama. I never thought a black man would be elected. It's exciting! It's history!

    2015, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland

present singular third person histories · participle present historying · participle past historied · past historied · alternative Hx · alternative hx · alternative obsolete historie · alternative obsolete hystorie · alternative nonstandard hystory

1. obsoleteTo narrate or record.

   And therefore will hee wipe his Tables cleane, And keepe no Tell-tale to his Memorie, That may repeat, and Historie his losse

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]