Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Memory
Mem′o-ry
,Noun.
pl.
Memories
(#)
. 1.
The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of previous thoughts, impressions, or events.
Memory
is the purveyor of reason. Rambler.
2.
The reach and positiveness with which a person can remember; the strength and trustworthiness of one’s power to reach and represent or to recall the past;
as, his
. memory
was never wrong3.
The actual and distinct retention and recognition of past ideas in the mind; remembrance;
as, in
memory
of youth; memories
of foreign lands.4.
The time within which past events can be or are remembered;
as, within the
. memory
of manAnd what, before thy
From the begining.
memory
, was doneFrom the begining.
Milton.
5.
Something, or an aggregate of things, remembered; hence, character, conduct, etc., as preserved in remembrance, history, or tradition; posthumous fame;
as, the war became only a
. memory
The
memory
of the just is blessed. Prov. x. 7.
That ever-living man of
memory
, Henry the Fifth. Shakespeare
The Nonconformists . . . have, as a body, always venerated her [Elizabeth's]
memory
. Macaulay.
6.
A memorial.
[Obs.]
These weeds are
memories
of those worser hours. Shakespeare
Memory is the generic term, denoting the power by which we reproduce past impressions. Remembrance is an exercise of that power when things occur spontaneously to our thoughts. In recollection we make a distinct effort to collect again, or call back, what we know has been formerly in the mind. Reminiscence is intermediate between remembrance and recollection, being a conscious process of recalling past occurrences, but without that full and varied reference to particular things which characterizes recollection. “When an idea again recurs without the operation of the like object on the external sensory, it is remembrance; if it be sought after by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought again into view, it is recollection.”
Locke.
To draw to memory
, to put on record; to record.
[Obs.]
Chaucer. Gower.
Webster 1828 Edition
Memory
MEM'ORY
,Noun.
1.
The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of past events, or ideas which are past. A distinction is made between memory and recollection. Memory retains past ideas without any, or with little effort; recollection implies an effort to recall ideas that are past. Memory is the purveyor of reason.
2.
A retaining of past ideas in the mind; remembrance. Events that excite little attention are apt to escape from memory.3.
Exemption from oblivion. That ever-living man of memory,
Henry the fifth.
4.
The time within which past events can be remembered or recollected, or the time within which a person may have knowledge of what is past. The revolution in England was before my memory; the revolution in America was within the author's memory.5.
Memorial; monumental record; that which calls to remembrance. A monument in London was erected in memory of the conflagration in 1666.6.
Reflection; attention.MEM'ORY
,Verb.
T.