memory
English
Alternative forms
- memorie (archaic)
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman memorie, Old French memoire etc., from Latin memoria (“the faculty of remembering, remembrance, memory, a historical account”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (to remember), related to Ancient Greek μνήμη (mnḗmē, “memory”) μέρμερος (mérmeros, “anxious”), μέριμνα (mérimna, “care, thought”), Old English mimor (“mindful, remembering”). More at mimmer. Doublet of memoir and memoria. Displaced native Old English ġemynd.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛm(ə)ɹi/
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /ˈmɪm(ə)ɹi/
- Hyphenation: mem‧o‧ry, mem‧ory
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛmɹi, -ɛməɹi, -ɪmɹi, -ɪməɹi
Noun
memory (countable and uncountable, plural memories)
- (uncountable) The ability of the brain to record information or impressions with the facility of recalling them later at will.
- Synonym: recall
- Memory is a facility common to all animals.
- A record of a thing or an event stored and available for later use by the organism.
- Synonyms: recall, recollection
- I have no memory of that event.
- My wedding is one of my happiest memories.
- (computing) The part of a computer that stores variable executable code or data (RAM) or unalterable executable code or default data (ROM).
- Synonym: (dated) core
- This data passes from the CPU to the memory.
- 1987 July 27, Jerry Pournelle, “Law of Expanding Memory: Applications Will Also Expand Until RAM Is Full”, in InfoWorld, volume 9, number 30, InfoWorld Media Group Inc, page 46:
- My first microcomputer had 12K of memory. When I expanded to a full 64K, I thought I had all the memory I'd ever need. Hah. I know better now.
- The time within which past events can be or are remembered.
- in recent memory
- in living memory
- (attributive, of a material) Which returns to its original shape when heated
- memory metal
- memory plastic
- (obsolete) A memorial.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene vii]:
- These weeds are memories of those worser hours.
-
- (zoology, collective, rare) A term of venery for a social group of elephants, normally called a herd.
Hyponyms
- base memory
- bubble memory
- collective memory
- constructive memory
- convential memory
- core memory
- declarative memory
- dynamic memory
- echoic memory
- eidetic memory
- episodic memory
- expanded memory
- extended memory
- extinction memory
- false memory
- flashbulb memory
- flash memory
- folk memory
- genetic memory
- institutional memory
- living memory
- long memory
- long-term memory
- main memory
- muscle memory
- photographic memory
- procedural memory
- race memory
- random access memory
- read-only memory
- recent memory
- recovered memory
- retrospective memory
- selective memory
- semantic memory
- semiconductor memory
- sensory memory
- shadow memory
- short-term memory
- translation memory
- virtual memory
- volatile memory
- water memory
- working memory
Derived terms
- in-memory
Related terms
- memo
- memoir
- memorable
- memorandum
- memorate
- memorial
- memorise, memorize
- memory bank
- memory card
- memory foam
- memory lane
- memory-ridden
Translations
ability to recall
|
stored record
|
RAM or ROM
|
the time within which past events can be or are remembered
|
See also
memory on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - remember
- mnemonics