n., pl., -ries.
- An account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious, as:
- An account or report regarding the facts of an event or group of events: The witness changed her story under questioning.
- An anecdote: came back from the trip with some good stories.
- A lie: told us a story about the dog eating the cookies.
- A usually fictional prose or verse narrative intended to interest or amuse the hearer or reader; a tale.
- A short story.
- The plot of a narrative or dramatic work.
- A news article or broadcast.
- Something viewed as or providing material for a literary or journalistic treatment: "He was colorful, he was charismatic, he was controversial, he was a good story" (Terry Ann Knopf).
- The background information regarding something: What's the story on these unpaid bills?
- Romantic legend or tradition: a hero known to us in story.
- To decorate with scenes representing historical or legendary events.
- Archaic. To tell as a story.
[Middle English storie, from Old French estorie, estoire, from Latin historia. See history.]
sto·ry2 (stôr'ē, stōr'ē)
n., pl., -ries.
- A complete horizontal division of a building, constituting the area between two adjacent levels.
- The set of rooms on the same level of a building.
[Middle English storie, story, from Medieval Latin historia, picture, story (probably from painted windows or sculpture on the front of buildings), from Latin, history. See history.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
