Histories

[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 events:
Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and tragedies.
/ˈhɪstərɪ; ˈhɪstrɪ/
noun (pl) -ries
1.

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
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]

adjective

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