story

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See also: Story

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɔː.ɹi/
  • Audio (UK)
    		(file)
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹi

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie, from Late Latin storia, an aphetic form of Latin historia (“history; story”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía, “history”), from ῐ̔στορέω (historéō, “I inquire”), from ἵστωρ (hístōr, “one who knows, wise one”), from Proto-Hellenic *wístōr, from Proto-Indo-European *wéydtōr (“knower, wise person”), from *weyd- (“to see”). Compare history and storey (“floor of a building”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

story (plural stories)

  1. A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.
    • (Can we date this quote by Ed. Rev. and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story
    • (Can we date this quote by Sir W. Temple and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      The four great monarchies make the subject of ancient story.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
    • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:
      Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
    The book tells the story of two roommates.
  2. A lie, fiction.
    You’ve been telling stories again, haven’t you?
  3. (US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.
    What will she do without being able to watch her stories?
    • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things
      He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […]
  4. (obsolete) History.
    • 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:
      […] who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.
  5. A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.
    What's the story with him?
    I tried it again; same story, no error message, nothing happened.
    The images it captured help tell a story of extreme loss: 25 percent of its ice and four of its 19 glaciers have disappeared since 1957.
  6. (Internet) A chronological collection of pictures or short videos published by a user on an application or website that is typically only available for a short period.
    stop posting entire concerts on your story[1]
Usage notes[edit]
  • (soap opera): Popularized in the 1950s, when soap operas were often billed as "continuing stories", the term "story" to describe a soap opera fell into disuse by the 21st century and is now used chiefly among older people and in rural areas. Other English-speaking countries used the term at its zenith as a "loaned" word from the United States.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from story
Descendants[edit]
  • → Welsh: stori
Translations[edit]
lie — see lie

Verb[edit]

story (third-person singular simple present stories, present participle storying, simple past and past participle storied)

  1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
    • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:
      How worthy he is I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than story him in his own hearing.
    • (Can we date this quote by Bishop Wilkins and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.

Etymology 2[edit]

Probably as etymology 1, since historia already had this meaning in medieval Anglo-Latin (see Etymonline). An alternative suggestion derives it from Old French *estoree (“a thing built, a building”), from estoree (“built”), feminine past participle of estorer (“to build”), from Latin instauro (“to construct, build, erect”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

story (plural stories)

  1. (obsolete) A building or edifice.
  2. (chiefly US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.
    Synonyms: floor, level
    Our shop was on the fourth story of the building, so we had to install an elevator.
  3. (typography) Alternative form of storey
Translations[edit]
storey — see storey
Usage notes[edit]

See storey.

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Old French estoree, past participle of estorer. Alternatively, the same word as storie.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɔriː(ə)/, /ˈstɔːriː(ə)/

Noun[edit]

story (plural storyes) (rare)

  1. A level of a building.
  2. A line of paddles on a ship.
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old French estorie, estoire.

Verb[edit]

story

  1. Alternative form of storie
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