# memory

Pronunciation: say "MEM-uh-ree" /ˈmɛm.ə.ɹi/

## Noun

1. A stored record of a thing or event, kept by an organism and available for later use.
   - Simple: A thing or event that you remember and can think about again.
   - _The smell of fresh bread brought back a memory of her grandmother's kitchen._
   - _He shared a fond memory from his childhood on the farm._
2. The brain's ability to record information or impressions and recall them later, usually at will.
   - Simple: The power of the mind to keep information and bring it back later.
   - _His memory for dates is remarkable, even decades after the events._
   - _Years of daily practice sharpened her memory for long passages of music._
3. The part of a computer that stores variable code or data (RAM) or fixed code and default data (ROM).
   - Simple: The part of a computer that stores information and instructions.
   - _This laptop has enough memory to run several large programs at once._
   - _The editing software kept crashing because the machine was short on memory._
4. The span of past time over which events are or can be recalled.
   - Simple: The amount of time that goes back as far as people can remember.
   - _It was the coldest winter in living memory._
   - _Such a flood had not struck the valley within memory._
5. The property by which certain materials return to their original shape after being deformed, often when heated or once pressure is removed.
   - Simple: The ability of some materials to go back to their first shape after being bent or pressed, often when heated.
   - _When the bent wire was heated, its memory pulled it back into a perfect coil._
   - _The wire's memory lets it spring back into shape after being bent._
8. A matching game played with a layout of face-down cards, in which players turn two at a time and rely on recall to find pairs.
   - Simple: A card game where you turn cards over two at a time and try to find matching pairs from memory.
   - _We played memory after dinner, and the youngest kept finding the pairs first._
   - _She beat everyone at memory by recalling exactly where each card had been placed._
6. The keeping in mind of someone who has died, most often met in the phrase in memory of.
   - Simple: The act of remembering and honoring someone who has died, as in "in memory of."
   - _The scholarship was set up in memory of a teacher who died last spring._
   - _Before kickoff, the crowd stood for a minute of silence in her memory._

## Noun

7. A monument or other object that preserves the remembrance of a person or event. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A statue, stone, or other thing that helps people remember a person or event.
9. A collective name for a social group of elephants, which is normally called a herd. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A group of elephants, usually called a herd.

## Origin

It comes through Anglo-Norman memorie and Old French memoire from Latin memoria ("the faculty of remembering, memory, a historical account"), from memor ("mindful, remembering"). It probably traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to remember" and is a doublet of memoir.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/memory (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).