history
    n 1: the aggregate of past events; "a critical time in the
         school's history"
    2: 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:
       history, account, chronicle, story]
    3: the discipline that records and interprets past events
       involving human beings; "he teaches Medieval history";
       "history takes the long view"
    4: the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from
       the past to the present and even into the future; "all of
       human history"
    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"

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.
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                Many glorious examples in the annals of our
                religion.                         --Rogers.
          [1913 Webster]

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

history

   1. <history> <Virginia Tech history of computing>.  <IT Rentals computing
   timeline>.

   2.  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.

   3. The history of the world was once discussed in Usenet
   newsgroups <news:soc.history> and <news:alt.history>.

   (2013-08-04)

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. 

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