Memory - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Memory :  (noun)
1: something that is remembered; "search as he would, the memory was lost"
2: the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered; "he can do it from memory"; "he enjoyed remembering his father" [syn: remembering]
3: the power of retaining and recalling past experience; "he had a good memory when he was younger" [syn: retention, retentiveness]
4: an electronic memory device; "a memory and the CPU form the central part of a computer to which peripherals are attached" [syn: computer memory, storage, computer storage, store, memory board]
5: the area of cognitive psychology that studies memory processes; "he taught a graduate course on learning and memory"

Based on WordNet 2.0

Memory : \Mem"o*ry\, n.; pl. Memories. [OE. memorie, OF. memoire, memorie, F. m['e]moire, L. memoria, fr. memor mindful; cf. mora delay. Cf. Demur, Martyr, Memoir, Remember.] 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 wrong.

3. 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 man.

And what, before thy memory, was done Based on 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. --Shak.

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. --Shak.

Syn: Memory, Remembrance, Recollection, Reminiscence.

Usage: 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.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

MEMORY, TIME OF. According to the English common law, which has been altered by 2 & 3 Wm. IV., c. 71, the time ofMemory : commenced from the reign of Richard the First, A. D. 1189. 2 Bl. Com. 31. 2. But proof of a regular usage for twenty years, not explained or contradicted, is evidence upon which many public and private rights are held, and sufficient for a jury in finding the existence of an immemorial custom or prescription. 2 Saund. 175, a, d; Peake's Ev. 336; 2 Price's R. 450; 4 Price's R. 198.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

MEMORY. Understanding; a capacity to make contracts, a will, or to commit a crime, so far as intention is necessary. 2.Memory : is sometimes employed to express the capacity of the understanding, and sometimes its power; when we speak of a retentive memory, we use it in the former sense; when of a ready memory, in the latter. Shelf. on Lun. Intr. 29, 30. 3. Memory, in another sense, is the reputation, good or bad, which a man leaves at his death. This memory, when good, is highly prized by the relations of the deceased, and it is therefore libelous to throw a shade over the memory of the dead, when the writing has a tendency to create a breach of the peace, by inciting the friends and relations of the deceased to avenge the insult offered to the family. 4 T. R. 126; 5 Co. R. 125; Hawk. b. 1, c. 73, s. 1.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

Memory : 

These days, usually used synonymously with Random Access Memory or Read-Only Memory, but in the general sense it can be any device that can hold data in machine-readable format.

(1996-05-25)



Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

Example Usage of Memory

azely_lar: The Past the Love the Memory.
nevrshoutbella_: i wish i hadn't lost harvest moon.. eh i'll just buy another one with xmas money lol.:P time to find the ol' game cube and Memory card..
funkomatic: Amen! RT @robertleebrewer: @AnneTylerLord Yep. #poettues I quit trusting my Memory years ago.
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