\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 From 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.