▪ I. story, n.1
(ˈstɔərɪ)
Pl. stories (ˈstɔərɪz). Forms: 3–7 storie, 4 Sc. stoury, 4–5 store, 4–6 stori, 5–7 storye, 5 stoory, 4– story. pl. 4 storis, storijs, -yss(e, 4–5 storys, -yies, stor(r)ius, 4–7 storyes, 6 storeis, storyis, 4– stories.
[a. AF. estorie (OF. estoire, later in semi-learned form histoire):—L. historia: see history. Cf. It. and med.L. storia.]
I. † 1. a. A narrative, true or presumed to be true, relating to important events and celebrated persons of a more or less remote past; a historical relation or anecdote. Obs.
In early use the most frequent application was to passages of Bible history and legends of saints. In quot. 1303, although the possessive denotes authorship, the n. prob. retains the general sense.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 154 Me schal, leoue sustren, tellen ou þeos storie [v.r. storien] uor hit were to long to writen ham here. a 1300 Havelok 1641 Þat sholen ye forthward ful wel leren [MS. heren], Yif þat ye wile þe storie heren. a 1300 Cursor M. 3410 Now es god at vnder tak Þe store tell of ysaac. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11452 She chese þat vertu, oure lady, So seyþ magnificat, here owne storye [Fr. En Magnificat qe ele feseit]. 1320–30 Horn Ch. 4 Stories ye may lere Of our elders that were Whilom in this land. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 71 A storye of Joon Baptiste. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 709 He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste, Wel koude he rede a lesson or a storie But alderbest he song an Offertorie. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) ii. 6 As þe story of Noe beres witness. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 5 Whan they here the precher..reherse ony fygures or storyes of the lawe of Moyses. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Richard Earl of Camb. Introd., By that this was ended, I had found out the storie of Richard earle of Cambridge. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iii. iii. (1624) 480 Paulus æmilius..hath a Tragicall story of Chilpericus the first his death. a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 152 David had many great infirmities, as we see in the whole story, the whole relation of his life. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. (1647) 25 So they being sent forth by the holy Ghost, departed into Seleucia. This is the story, now let us make our best on't. |
† b. Clerk of the Stories: Petrus Comestor, the author of the
Historia Scholastica. Also
Master in or of the Stories: see
master n. 12 b.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 73 Catoun kenneth men þus and þe clerke of þe stories. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 65 Þe Maister of the stories sayth. [1450 Harl. transl., ibid., After the Maister in storyes.] |
† c. A historical incident.
Obs.| c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 225 Euereither of these stories were doon eer eny lawe was ȝouun to the Iewis. |
† 2. A historical work, a book of history.
Obs.| 13.. Coer de L. 4852 And as I fynde in hys story, He seygh come St. George, the knyght, Upon a stede good and lyght. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 51 A thousand was þe date & sex & þritty, Whan Knoute kyng died, so sais þe story. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 467 We raiken to oure romancus & reden þe storrius Þat oure eldrene on erþe or þis time wroute. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 297 Herodotus þe writer of stories. Ibid. II. 7 This Britayne is acounted an holy lond bothe in oure stories and also in stories of Grees. c 1440 Generydes 3481 Generides his swarde toke in his hande, Claryet it hight, the store tellith me so. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xii. 351 Ech fundamental storie speking of this said voice seith and storieth, that [etc.]. 1574 Whitgift Def. Aunsw. ii. 98 And yet in lawfull matters, not expressed in the Scriptures, I know not to whome we should resorte to know the vse and antiquitie of them, but to the Councels, stories, and doctors. 1634 Peacham Compl. Gentl. xv. (1906) 186 Ordericus Vitalis the Monke, in his Normane Story saith. 1684–5 South Serm. (1715) I. 304 Examples of this, we have both in Holy Writ, and also in other Stories. 1708 Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. x. (1743) 220 Records of this Nation, without which no Story of the Nation can be written or proved. 1756 T. Amory Buncle (1825) I. i. 17 When I had done with antient history, I sat down to the best modern stories I could get, and read of distant nations. |
† 3. In generalized sense: Historical writing or records; history as a branch of knowledge, or as opposed to fiction. Also, the events recorded or proper to be recorded by historians:
= history n. 4 c.
Obs.| a 1300 Cursor M. 7038 In grece þan regned Preamus As ald stori telles vs. 13.. K. Alis. 670 (Laud MS.) Þis is nouȝth romaunce of skof, Ac storye ymade of maistres wyse. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 345 Verrey storie [L. vera historia] seiþ þat Saturnus þe fader and Iupiter þe sone hadde tweie kingdomes [etc.]. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 85 The chieldren of Seth in story ye may se, Flowryng in vertu by longe successiouns. 1568 Abp. Parker Let. 4 July Corr. (1853) 328 In story it is reported that the prince of the realm by right is not Dominus Hiberniæ, but Rex Hiberniæ. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 89, I will shewe you out of Beda and others the content and storie of this Ile. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶1 As many as know story, or haue any experience. 1612 Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. xi. 379 As Robert of Glocester, according to truth of Story hath it. a 1626 Bacon Sp. Speaker's Excuse Wks. 1778 II. 242 This is no part of a panegyric, but merely story. 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 54 Who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story, that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance. 1647 Ward Simple Cobler (1843) 2 Those that are acquainted with Story know. 1666 Dryden Ann. Mirab. Pref. ¶1 The destruction being so swift..as nothing can parallel in Story. 1692 Prior Ode Imit. Hor. xii, 'Tis no Poet's Thought, no flight of Youth, But solid Story, and severest Truth. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 93 Have we not any Instances in Story of some such-like Deportment practised by politer and more refined Nations? 1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 20 With every intention of vindicating Richard, he does but authenticate his crimes, by searching in other story for parallel instances of what he calls policy. |
4. a. A recital of events that have or are alleged to have happened; a series of events that are or might be narrated.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 1 Storys to rede ar delitabill, Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill: Than suld storyss that suthfast wer,..Hawe doubill plesance in heryng. c 1400 Destr. Troy 419 Ouyd, Þat feynit in his fablis & other fele stories. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iii. 8 Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborne To do this peece of ruthfull Butchery,..Wept like to Children, in their deaths sad Story. 1602 tr. Guarini's Pastor Fido v. i. N 3 b, But twilbe too Too troublesome to tell the storie of my life. 1653 Ld. Vaux tr. Godeau's St. Paul 44 But to understand this better, tis necessary we take the course of this Story a little higher. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 51 He with his consorted Eve The storie heard attentive. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxiii. 324 Intent he hears Penelope disclose A mournful story of domestic woes. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Study Nat. (1799) II. 247, I shall give this story in the simplicity of style of the old Translator of Pliny. 1843 Prescott Mexico vi. viii. (1864) 407 The whole story has the air of a fable, rather than of history! 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley xxxvii, He told the story of George's disappearance, and of his own doubts and fears. 1883 Tylor in Encycl. Brit. XV. 199/1 Among the magi the interpretation of dreams was practised, as appears from the story of the birth of Cyrus. |
b. transf.| 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster iii. i, How that foolish man, That reads the story of a womans face, And dies believing it, is lost for ever. 1828 Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 3 His [Raffaello's] great and commanding excellence is in..the art of telling a story with such appropriate feeling and expression, as no other artist ever yet approached. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps vi. §7. 169 Better the rudest work that tells a story or records a fact, than the richest without meaning. |
† c. Purport, meaning conveyed.
Obs.| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 609 Ȝe ne vndurstonde nouht þat stounde þe storie of þis wordus, Þat god hereþ no gome but for his goode dedus, & for no bestene blod. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 82 Þe story is of non estate Þat stryuen with her lustus, But þo þat ffolwyn her fflessh. |
d. With possessive: A person's account of the events of his life or some portion of it.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 165 She..bad me, if I had a Friend that lou'd her, I should but teach him how to tell my Story, And that would wooe her. 1663 Tuke Adv. Five Hours i. 4 Let's tell our Stories, that we soon shall see, Which of us two excells in Misery. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 522 Thus have I told thee all my State, and brought My Storie to the sum of earthly bliss Which I enjoy. 1797 [Frere & Canning] Knife-grinder in Anti-Jacobin No. 2. 15/2 As soon as you have told your Pitiful story. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlvi, ‘Ye maun gang up wi' me to the Lodge, Effie,’ said Jeanie, ‘and tell me a' your story’. 1894 B. Thomson South Sea Yarns 81 And then she told him her whole story. |
e. With possessive or followed by
of: The series of events in the life of a person or the past existence of a thing, country, institution, etc., considered as narrated or as a subject for narration. Also in catch-phrase
that's the story of my life, etc., used of something that supposedly epitomizes one's life or experience.
Originally
= history 4 b; but in modern use (from association with sense 5) implying that the course of events referred to has the kind of interest which it is the aim of fiction to create. (So often in titles of books.)
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 6 Sept. 1676, The famous beauty and errant lady the Dutchesse of Mazarine (all the world knows her storie). 1711 Swift Cond. Allies 65 The Prudence, Courage and Firmness of Her Majesty..would, if the Particulars were truly related, make a very shining Part in Her Story. 1712 Addison Hymn in Spect. No. 465 The Moon..nightly..Repeats the Story of her Birth. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iii. 161 Several other Kings of Babylon with whose story we are entirely unacquainted. 1878 Herford (title) The Story of Religion in England. 1885 L. Oliphant Sympneumata 135 The story of woman upon earth has been different from the beginning to that of man. 1888 E. Clodd (title), The Story of Creation. 1898 ‘Merriman’ Roden's Corner i. 10 Many objects in the room had a story, had been in the daily use of hands long since vanished. 1910 J. McCabe Prehist. Man. i. 14 If we take the entire story of the stratified rocks to extend to over 55 million years. 1964 Punch 11 Mar. 385/3 It's the story of my life—looking for small watch-straps. 1969 Time 30 May 22/3 In 13 years, he's been a hard-liner in criminal cases. That's the story of his life. |
5. a. A narrative of real or, more usually, fictitious events, designed for the entertainment of the hearer or reader; a series of traditional or imaginary incidents forming the matter of such a narrative; a tale.
Often applied more or less
spec. to a tale told to children, a nursery tale, and to a tale handed down by popular oral tradition, a folk-tale (the two classes partly coincide). When denoting a literary composition, the word is sometimes applied to a long work of fiction, a romance or novel,
esp. when considered with reference to its series of incidents (
cf. c), but more commonly to a short tale or novelette.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lvii. 7 Sum singis, sum dancis, sum tellis storeis. 1597 J. King Jonas (1618) 355 Now wee haue Arcadia, and the Faery Queene, and Orlando Furioso, with such like friuolous stories. ? 1605 Drayton Poems Lyr. & Past. Eglog vi. F 1, Summers longst day shall sheepheards not suffice to sit and tell full storyes of thy prayse. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 101 With stories told of many a feat, How Faery Mab the junkets eat. 1692 S. Shaw Diff. Humours Men 30, I doubt you would be laught at as bad as the Crow in the Story. 1866 Freeman Hist. Ess. Ser. i. (1871) 9 A romance without a shadow of truth may be exquisitely beautiful as a story. 1867 Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxii. 213 Stories become extinct like dodos and megatheria. 1886 Morning Post 8 Sept. Bk.-review, It is a brilliant story..which will be avidly read. |
b. In generalized sense: Traditional, poetic, or romantic legend or history.
| 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxv, She almost fancied herself approaching a castle, such as is often celebrated in early story, where the knights look out from the battlements on some champion below. 1796 Watson Apol. Bible 40 They are sensible that the gospel miracles are so different, in all their circumstances, from those related in pagan story. 1802 Wordsw. To the Small Celandine 6 Long as there are violets, They will have a place in story. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, Old Martin Elliot of the Preakin⁓tower, noted in Border story and song. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 11 Or die in fight, to live in story. 1855 Lynch Rivulet lxxxii. i, Breathe on us for the passing day The powers of ancient story. |
c. Succession of incidents, ‘plot’ (of a novel, poem, or drama).
| 1715 Parnell Pope's Iliad I. Ess. Homer 38 While his Works were suffer'd to lie in an unconnected manner, the Chain of Story was not always perceiv'd, so that they lost much of their Force and Beauty by being read disorderly. 1772 Johnson in Boswell (1904) I. 455 Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. 1779 Mirror No. 31 The great error..into which novel-writers commonly fall, is, that they attend more to the story and to the circumstances they relate, than to giving new and just views of the character of the person they present. 1868 D. Cook Nts. at the Play (1883) I. 88 Sundry bursts of patriotic oratory..close the second act effectively, but otherwise help the story in no way. 1877 Ibid. II. 159 The story set forth by the play. 1897 Strand Mag. Dec. 634/2 As the life of the body is the blood, so the life of the novel is the ‘story’. 1902 A. Dobson S. Richardson iv. 94 In Grandison..the movement of the story for the most part advances no more than a rocking-horse. |
d. An incident, real or fictitious, related in conversation or in written discourse in order to amuse or interest, or to illustrate some remark made; an anecdote.
good story: often, an amusing anecdote.
| a 1679 J. Ward Diary (1839) 129, I have heard a merrie storie of a certain scholar, that [etc.]. 1771 Junius Lett. lxvii. 331 The following story will serve to illustrate the character of this respectable family. 1779 Mirror No. 5 He is as much a pedant as his quondam tutor, who..tells stories out of Herodotus. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 203 A story, in which native humour reigns, Is often useful, always entertains. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Note-bks. (1871) I. 126, I capped his story by telling him how [etc.]. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. cxi. III. 597 A deliberate and slow delivery..has the advantage of making a story or jest tell with more effect. |
¶ e. Used for: A subject of story. Also, a theme for mirth, a dupe.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. iv. 30 Sir, make me not your storie. 1703 Rowe Ulysses iv. i, 'Till I had been a Story to Posterity. 1756 C. Smart tr. Horace, Epist. i. xiii. (1826) II. 229 Rather than..turn your paternal name of Asina into a jest; and make yourself a common story [L. et fabula fias]. |
6. a. An allegation, statement; an account or representation of a matter; a particular person's representation of the facts in a case. Phrase,
the story goes that{ddd}: it is reported.
to be all in one story,
to be in the same story: (of a number of persons) to agree in their account of a matter (usually implying collusion).
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 229 The story then goes false, you threw it him Out of a Casement. 1653 Ramesey Astrol. Restored 28 Inventing and affirming detracting and most abusive speeches and stories. 1661 Prince Rupert in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 7 The stori is this, the Elector Pallatin hath ben pleased to write to a Prive Consellor of this court [Vienna] in these terms [etc.]. a 1670 [S. Collins] Pres. St. Russia (1671) 41 But as the story goes, she fail'd of her promise. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 159, I kept constant to this story, not knowing any better way to conceal my self. 1700 N. Rous in Jrnl. Friends' Hist. Soc. (1912) IX. 184, I find Brother Dykes continues in his old story. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 24, I find all the world in the same story. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 210 And e'en the story ran that he could gauge. 1775 Sheridan Duenna ii. iii, I find they are all in a story. 1823 Lockhart Sp. Ball., Escape of Gayferos x, And of Gayferos' slaughter a cunning story [they] made. 1833 Greville Mem. (1874) II. 340 He [Lyndhurst] told me his story, which differs very little from that which Arbuthnot had told me at Downham. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xvii, They're all in one story, Mrs. Mann. That out-dacious Oliver has demogalized them all! 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xviii. IV. 234 The Queen..had been informed that stories deeply affecting the character of the navy were in circulation. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi v. 126 A Chief..remarked that parties had come before, with as plausible a story as ours. 1898 J. K. Fowler Rec. Old Times 114 The story goes that the following colloquy took place. 1905 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 July 223/3 Dr. Murray has a slightly different story [of the origin of pasquinade]. |
† b. A mere tale, a baseless report.
Obs.| 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 93 Were it granted that this is but a story, as it seems to be no other. 1665 Granvill Scepsis Sci. x. 53 And it may be more than a Story, that Nero derived much of his cruelty from the Nurse that suckled him. 1685 Jas. II in Lond. Gaz. No. 2006/3 But that is not the onely Story has been made of Me. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 376 Merchant letters are silent herein, so hoped to be a story. 1705 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. iii. iv. 27 Tell 'em, the Church declines in Glory, They cry, they hope 'tis all a Story. 1796 Watson Apol. Bible 74 Is it a story, that our first parents fell from a paradisiacal state? |
† c. to make a story: to cause a scandal.
Obs.| 1652 D. Osborne Lett. to Sir W. Temple (1888) 29 He has made a story with a new mistress that is worth your knowing. |
d. Phrases.
the whole story: the full account of the matter, all that there is to be said.
† to be out of the story: to misunderstand the state of things.
(that is) another story: a matter requiring different treatment.
(to be) the same story: a repetition of some occurrence; similarly
a different story.
the old story: see
old a. 7 e.
| 1668 Temple Let. to Ld. Halifax Wks. 1731 II. 89 There is the whole Story; that you may see how much you are either biass'd, or mistaken in all the rest you say of it. 1778 Arminian Mag. I. 194 Alas, Sir, you are as much out of the Story now as ever. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. II. xiii. 308 But if she's gaun to look after the kye at St. Leonard's, that's another story. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §33 If the scientific man comes for a bone or a crust to us, that is another story. 1905 American Mag. May 107/1 It has been the same story in every strike the man has undertaken, though it has been a longer job in most cases. 1940 A. Christie Sad Cypress ii. iii. 128 As a matter of fact, it was Nurse O'Brien who set me on the track; but that's another story. 1958 ‘Castle’ & ‘Hailey’ Flight into Danger i. 20 The met report was reasonable... In a month or so's time it'll be a very different story. 1966 ‘H. Calvin’ Italian Gadget v. 64 ‘Brains?.. I haven't shown much evidence of them here... But that's another story,’ he added hastily. 1979 J. Crosby Party of Year xxiii. 146 Let's look at the back stairs.—Same story there... The door was of steel. |
e. orig. U.S. A narrative or descriptive article in a newspaper; the subject or material for this. Now chiefly
= news story s.v. news n. (
pl.) 6 b.
| 1892 Harper's Weekly 9 Jan. 42/3 When one reporter is given the whole of a ‘story’, his instructions always leave him more or less discretion, but when several men are assigned to different parts of one ‘story’, each one has instructions which must be followed to the letter. 1898 Scribner's Mag. May 572 ‘Where's your story?’ asked the city editor. ‘There wasn't any story to write,’ replied the new reporter,..‘finally the [peace] meeting broke up in a free fight; so I came back, sir.’ 1902 E. Banks Newspaper Girl 95 A girl artist and I were told by our editor to go out and get up a true story on ‘The Hottest Day among the New York Poor’. 1905 E. Wallace Four Just Men v. 86 ‘A very good story,’ said the chief complacently, reading the proofs. 1942 Sphere 27 June 409/1 Each regional editor acquires stories from his own Embassy or exiled Government as well as sending out his own reporters for stories of special interest to his country. 1961 C. Willock Death in Covert xii. 203 One headline said: Regency Bucks Ride Again, and the sub-head to the same story complained: Last time a man was blown up. 1976 Task of Broadcasting News (B.B.C.) ii. 17/1 ‘Story’ is only a journalist's professional jargon for an item of news. The proper place for it is a news bulletin. |
7. colloq. Euphemism for: A lie. Hence (in vulgar use,
esp. among children)
you story! = ‘you story-teller’, ‘liar’.
| a 1697 Aubrey Lives, Sir H. Blount (1898) I. 110 Two young gentlemen that heard Sir H. tell this sham so gravely..told him they wonderd he was not ashamed to tell..storys as, &c. 1740 Richardson Pamela II. 272, I believe, Woman, said she, thou tellest me a Story. 1763 Bickerstaff Love in Village iii. ix, You strike me, because you have been telling his worship stories. 1770 Wesley Jrnl. 21 Mar., You were always good Children, and never told stories. 1834 Dickens Sk. Boz, Steam Excurs., The unfortunate little victim was accordingly led below, after receiving sundry thumps on the head from both his parents, for having the wickedness to tell a story. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., Story, a softened term for a lie. 1869 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 561 Saying, as the little girls in the streets do, ‘Oh, you story!’ 1880 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Rebel of Family II. ix. 201 Now, Eva,..I know all about you, so do not begin to deny and tell stories. 1884 Life & Lett. Bayard Taylor I. 11 The boy..went home, telling his mother that there was no school,—the first and only ‘story,’ she says, that he ever told her. 1893 W. S. Gilbert Utopia ii, Oh, you shocking story! 1901 W. P. Ridge Lond. Only ii. 38 ‘Least bit bandy, surely?’ remarked her sister. ‘Oh, you story!’ exclaimed Rhoda, with indignation. ‘His legs are as straight as straight.’ |
† II. 8. a. A painting or sculpture representing a historical subject. Hence, any work of pictorial or sculptural art containing figures.
Obs. [So
med.L.
historia,
storia (Du Cange),
OF. histoire (
Godef.).]
| 1388 Wyclif 1 Kings vii. 24 Tweyne ordris of grauyngis conteynynge summe stories [1382 Two ordris of storye grauyngis: Vulg. duo ordines sculpturarum striatarum (? misread storiatarum)]. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 94 In þase platez er storys of kynges and knyghtes and batales. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. ii. 139 In the sidis of the same ymage he made stories in ymagerie..as it is open iij⊇. Reg. vij⊇. c. c 1470 Harding Chron. xli. iv, He died so, and in his temple fayre Entoumbed was, with stories all about. 1533 Coron. Q. Anne in Bibl. Curiosa (1884) 29 The standarde whiche was costly and sumptuously garnisshed with gold and asure with armes and stories. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs etc. (Arb.) 114 The walles were raysed hye And all engraued with Storyes fayre of costlye Imagrye. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. [ii. i.] 76 b in Holinshed, As for our Churches themselues..all Images,..and monumentes of Idolatry, are remooued,..onely the storyes in glasse windowes excepted. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 548 In the walles whereof are engraven the stories of Christs Passion and other things. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 8 May 1654, I also call'd at Mr. Ducie's, who has indeede a rare collection of the best masters, and one of the largest stories of H. Holbein. Ibid. 20 July, The dining-roome..richly gilded and painted with story by De Creete. |
† b. Subject (of a painting or sculpture).
Obs.| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 3 Jan. 1666, There are some mezzo⁓relievos as big as the life, the storie is of the Heathen Gods. |
III. 9. attrib. and
Comb., as in
story-ballet,
story-film,
story-group,
story-maker,
story-monger,
story-plot,
story-reader,
story-weaving,
story-wright,
story-writing. Also
storyboard, a large surface on which is displayed a series of rough drawings representing a shot-by-shot breakdown of a planned film (
spec. used of advertising commercials);
story-book, a book containing stories,
esp. children's stories; also
occas. a novel or romance; also
attrib.;
freq. fig. with allusion to the conventionally happy ending of children's stories or popular romances (
cf. fairy-tale);
story conference, a meeting of editorial and production staff to discuss a film script;
† story-dresser, one who gives a novel form to history;
story editor, one who advises on the content and form of film or television scripts;
† story-faith, historical faith (see
historical a. 2);
story-line, an outline of the principal stages by which a story (
esp. a film script) unfolds; also
transf.;
† story's man (
stories man), the authority for a story;
† story-painter, a historical painter;
story-paper, a journal that contains works of fiction;
† (in) story wise adv., (
a) historically; (
b) in the manner of ‘story’ or historical painting or sculpture;
† story-work, historical painting or sculpture (see sense 8);
story-writer,
† (
a) an official chronicler, historiographer; (
b) a historian; (
c) a writer of stories or tales;
† story-wrought a., adorned with ‘story-work’. Also
story-teller, -telling.
| 1951 Ann. Reg. 1950 396 ‘*Story ballets’ with music that had been specially composed to fit a ballet scenario. 1964 Listener 23 Apr. 668/2 Story-ballets on special scenarios. |
| 1942 Amer. Cinematographer Apr. 188/3 A *story board is a large 4 x 8 foot piece of wallboard or celotex, on which the story sketches are pinned in rows with aluminum push-pins. 1952 Jrnl. Soc. Mot. Pict. & Television Engineers LIX. 298/1 The storyboard will then show how much time is to be consumed between these majors. 1962 Rep. Comm. Broadcasting 1960 in Parl. Papers 1961–2 (Cmnd. 1753) IX. 259 70 The story⁓boards or scripts of all advertisements are scrutinised by the Advertising Copy Committee. 1975 R. Hill April Shroud xii. 154 A huge sheet of card pinned to the wall. On it were pasted a series of drawings... ‘Yeah, that's my story board.’ |
| 1711 Swift Harrison's Tatler No. 5 ¶2 My Maid left on the Table..one of her *Story-Books (as she calls them) which I..found full of strange Impertinences,..Of poor Servants that came to be Ladies [etc.]. 1790 Cowper Let. 23 Mar., The Odyssey, which is one of the most amusing story-books in the world. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxix, The Duke in person with laced coat, gold-headed cane, star and garter, all, as the story-book says, very grand. 1844 C. M. Yonge Abbeychurch xiv. 298 It is only a failure in story-book justice. Lucy is too noble a creature to be rewarded in story-book fashion. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlv, Her simple little fancies shrank away tremulously, as fairies in the story-books before a superior bad angel. 1883 M. B. Betham-Edwards Disarmed xi, Can things come right for us, as they do in story-books? 1908 A. Kinross Joan of Garioch xlv. 298 The silent horsemen all about me were figures from a story-book of old romance. 1913 E. C. Bentley Trent's Last Case xv. 309 The national fondness for doing things in a story-book style. a 1944 K. Douglas Alamein to Zem Zem (1946) xix. 124 She looked like a story-book nurse, clean, slim, pretty, and smiling. 1973 P. Moyes Curious Affair of Third Dog iii. 32, I call that a real story-book happy ending. |
| 1926 G. Frankau My Unsentimental Journey xvi. 217 Casey Williams explained a *story-conference, which appears to be something like a board meeting. 1975 R. L. Simon Wild Turkey (1976) xi. 71, I found the producer's office... Graskow was in the middle of a story conference. |
| 1592 Nashe Pierce Penilesse 20 Any *Storie dresser..that sets a new English nap on an olde Latine Apothegs. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. Democr. to Rdr. (1624) 7 Our Poets steale from Homer,..Divines vse Austins wordes verbatim still, and our story dressers doe as much. |
| 1940 I. Crump Our Movie Makers ii. 21 In every studio there is a *story editor, with numerous assistants who are always on the watch for stories. 1950 C. Beranger Writing for Screen xx. 165 The story then goes to the head of the department, the story editor. If the story editor approves of it, he in turn gives it to an associate producer or to the studio head who can order its purchase. 1966 Writing for BBC v. 24 A post peculiar to [television] Drama Group is that of the Story Editor... He is concerned with the content of the script, rather than its technical requirements... His role..is that of adviser, not ‘rewrite man’. 1981 N. Tucker Child & Book v. 142 Story editors may be pushed fairly hard to think of new material for plots. |
| 1531 Tindale Expos. 1 John iv. (1538) 65 We beleue not only wyth *story fayth, as men beleue old cronicles, but we beleue [etc.]. |
| 1937 A. Calder-Marshall in C. Day Lewis Mind in Chains 64 Proceeding from the lot of the film-worker to the nature of capitalist *story-films, we find that they have a uniform basis. 1961 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing i. 36 This contempt for the simplest requirement of a story-film—the ability to create the illusion of events unfolding in logical sequence. |
| 1904 Jessie Weston in Romania XXXIII. 342 Remnants of a once popular and widely-spread *story-group connected with the deeds of Gawain and his kin. |
| 1941 B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? vi. 103 I've been after them to make a Jefferson picture..if I can only hammer out the goddam *story line. 1956 B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 82 The most noticeable trend in variety production has been recent efforts to develop the situation comedy-type show with the continuing story-line. 1967 M. McLuhan Medium is Massage 92 Older societies..demanded story lines. Today's humor, on the contrary, has no story line—no sequence. 1972 G. Jones Kings, Beasts, & Heroes i. i. 8 ‘The Three Stolen Princesses’ is an elaborate and complicated type of folktale..tolerating a considerable choice of alternatives by the story-teller without losing its story line. |
| 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 162 Dares..that was att the Segee of the nobill Cite of Troy, and therof the *stori-makere. 1913 R. C. Maclagan Our Ancestors xxiv. 285 It is no wonder that the story⁓makers should ascribe its use in royal ceremonial as taking place in Ireland. |
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Huntingdon. (1662) 49 Mr. Parker (I tell you my story and my *stories⁓man) an industrious Antiquary, collecteth out of the Records of the Church of Ely, that [etc.]. |
| 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. vii. 315 Where are the *Story-Mongers? The Masters of the Faculty of Lying? That Report more than they Hear [etc.]. |
| 1634 Peacham Compl. Gentl. xii. (1906) 110, I call Reubens to witnesse, (the best *story-painter of these times). |
| 1886 F. H. Burnett Little Lord Fauntleroy xi. 218 Then he looked at the *story papers. 1888 R. L. Stevenson Beggars ii, He had a vulgar taste in letters; scarce flying higher than the story papers. |
| 1890 Hartland Science of Fairy Tales i. (1891) 2 The outlines of a *story-plot among savage races are wilder and more unconfined. 1903 A. Lang in Folk-Lore June 155 Now I have already insisted that captured slaves..and commerce in all ages must have diffused story-plots. |
| 1844 Dickens Chimes i, It is desirable that a story-teller and a *story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible. |
| 1889 Spectator 9 Nov. 640/2 Never raising him above his true level, which was that of an artist in *story-weaving. |
| 1565 J. Calfhill Answ. Treat. Crosse Pref. 6 b, At the firste, Images among Christen men, were only kept in priuate houses: paynted or grauen in *story wise. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xviii. 8. 58 Yit dooth not David report theis things in story-wyse; but [etc.]. 1572 N. Roscarrock in Bossewell Armorie Pref. Verses, All the walls with imagery, were grauen storie wise. 1608 Hieron Defence I. 46, I might put him in mind, that some learned men observe Mathew not to alleadge that testimony; but to report storie wise, how the Scribes did alleadge it to Herod. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvi. xxxiii. I. 479 Thereof [of Cypress] are drawne many vinets and borders about *storie-workes in colours. 1611 Cotgr., Historier,..to flourish, or beautifie Wainscot or Tapistrie with Histories, or Storie-worke. 1659 Torriano, s.v. Storie, To beautifie with storie-work, historiare. |
| 1903 Christabel Coleridge C. M. Yonge vi. 163 Miss Dyson had generous insight enough to know that her friend was a far better *story⁓wright than herself. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 366/2 A *Story wryter (writter A.), historiagraphus. 1535 Coverdale 1 Esdras ii. 25 Then wrote the kynge to Rathimus the story wryter [LXX. τῷ γράϕοντι τὰ προσπίπτοντα]. 1552 Huloet, Story writer, historiographus. 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 407 The particular remembrances of such use..either neuer were in being, for want of Story-writers in barbarous times..or [etc.]. 1905 A. R. Wallace My Life II. 135 Frank Stockton, perhaps the most thoroughly original of modern story-writers. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Story wrytyng, historiographia. |
| 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnif. 267 Her wide-side Robes of Tissue passing price, All *story-wrought with bloudy Victories. |
▸
what's the story?: ‘What are the facts?’ ‘Tell me what you know.’ ‘What's going on?’.
| 1795 F. Reynolds Rage iii. ii. 49 Who is this child? Where does he come from? What's the story? 1877 H. James American ii, All that takes money... What's the story? How have you done it? 1946 R. M. Lindner Stone Walls & Men xx. 407 Chaplain: What's the story?.. Class Supvr.: Lemme see. He goes to the shoe repair. Close custody... I guess we ought to speak to him about some schooling, too. 1989 P. McCabe Carn (1993) xvi. 202 ‘What's the story?’.. ‘The bomb was put together in the house we want.’ 1992 P. Theroux Happy Isles of Oceania xix. 527 How do I get my faucet to work?.. Suppose I want to shut off my hot water?.. What's the story with my fan? |
▪ II. story, n.2, storey (
ˈstɔərɪ)
Pl.
stories,
storeys. Forms: 5
storye, 6
storie, (
storrie,
store), 7–
storey, ? 4, 5–
story.
[First in AL. form historia; hence prob. the same word as story n.1, though the development of sense is obscure. Possibly
historia as an architectural term may originally have denoted a tier of painted windows or of sculptures on the front of a building: see
story n.1 8, and
cf. the Latin
quot. 1398 below and sense 2.
The current view that the word is a.
OF. *estoree (
f. estorer to build, furnish: see
store v.) is untenable on account of the
AL. form
historia (from 12th c.).
The following are examples of the Anglo-Latin use of
historia in the architectural sense:—
a 1200 Hugo Candidus
Cœnob. Burgensis Hist. 93 in Sparke
Hist. Angl. Scriptt. (1723)
In suo etiam tempore [sc. W. de Waterville, 1155–75] tres hystoriæ magistræ turris erectæ sunt. a 1300 Gesta Sacristarum in Arnold
Mem. St. Edmund's Abbey (Rolls) II. 291
Qui [Abbot Sampson 1135–1211] tempore officii sui pro majori parte chorum consummavit unam istoriam in majori turre ad ostium occidentali. 1339–40 Ely Sacrist Rolls (1907) II. 96
Pro fenestris superioris istoriæ novi operis. 1398 in
Hist. Dunelm. Script. tres (Surtees) p. clxxxi,
Supra quodlibet studium erit unum modicum et securum archewote, supra quod, spacio competenti interposito, erit una historia octo fenestrarum..et desuper istam historiam fenestrarum erunt honesta alours et bretesmontz batellata et kirnellata.]
1. Each of the stages or portions one above the other of which a building consists; a room or set of rooms on one floor or level.
In this use synonymous with
floor n. 5; but while in England the term
first-floor is applied to the floor above the ground-floor, the numbering of ‘stories’ (so named) usually begins with the ground floor, so that the ‘first-floor’ is identical with the ‘second story,’ and ‘a house of one story’ has a ground-floor only. A different usage is shown in
quot. 1850, and appears to be not wholly obsolete.
Quot.
a 1400, though the reading is
app. the scribe's conjectural emendation of an obscure passage, may
perh. be taken as attesting the existence of the
n. at the date of the
MS.; the passage was
prob. supposed to refer to the addition of ‘stories’ or upper stages to towers.
| a 1400 R. Gloucester's Chron. 3756 (Harl. MS.) Hii bygonne her heye tounes strengþy [Cotton MS. & strengþede] vaste aboute, Her castles & storys [Cotton MS. & astori], þat hii mygte be ynne in doute. a 1490 Botoner Itin. (Nasmith, 1778) 282 Turris Sci Stephani Bristoll..habet 4 storyes, et ibi in quarta storia sunt campanæ. In superiori historia tres orbæ in qualibet panella. 1569 T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. iii. viii. 113 b, He caused an engine to be made called Helepolis,..in which were .ix. stories or sellers deuided one from another with planchers of wood. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 181 Tristega,..a house of three sollers, floores, stories or lofts one ouer another. 1590 Lucar Lucarsolace i. xxi. 34 By the art..you may tell..what space is betwene storie and storie in any house or other building. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa viii. 307 It is built very stately..and is of three stories high. 1625 Bacon Ess., Of Building (Arb.) 552–3 This vpon the Second Story. Vpon the Ground Story, a Faire Gallery..: And vpon the Third Story likewise, an Open Gallery. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 39 Annoyances incident to such as dwell in the middle story. 1693 Dryden Juvenal iii. 326 Thy own third Story smoaks. 1723 Present State of Russia I. 43 All the Inhabitants of Petersbourg who had Houses but one Story high. 1741 P. Tailfer etc. Narr. Georgia 107 The Orphan-house..has two Stories besides Cellars and Garrets. 1763 Museum Rust. (ed. 2) I. 76 The granary..consists of seven stories of floors. 1766 Entick Lond. IV. 360 The basement story is very massy. 1773 G. A. Stevens Trip to Portsmouth ii. 20 Three story is na height at all—my town hoose at bonny Edingburgh is up the aught story. 1815 Scott Guy M. iii, The..narrative..was interrupted by the voice of some one ascending the stairs from the kitchen story. 1819 Shelley Let. to T. L. Peacock 26 Jan., Sel. Lett. (1882) 95 The houses [in Pompeii] have only one story, and the apartments..are very lofty. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. iii, A Brigand Court-Martial establishes itself in the subterranean stories of the Castle of Avignon. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge i, With its overhanging storeys, drowsy little panes of glass, and front bulging out and projecting over the pathway. 1850 Parker Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5) I. 447 In domestic and palatial architecture the stories are thus enumerated from the lowest upwards. Basement or underground story... Ground story or ground-floor... First-story... Then follow second, third, and so on. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxii, A wide verandah of two storeys running round every part of the house. 1864 C. Geikie Life in Woods vii. 132 A wooden schoolhouse..a single story high. 1874 Ruskin Fors Clav. IV. xlvi. 222 The little house..having..two windows over the shop, in the second story. 1899 Daily Chron. 24 Jan., The inhabitants have taken refuge in the upper storeys of the houses. |
b. transf. and
fig. Anything compared to a story of a building; one of a series of stages or divisions lying horizontally one over the other.
| 1625 Massinger New Way iv. i, Not the..feare of what can fall on me hereafter, Shall make me studie ought but your aduancement, One story higher. An Earle! if gold can do it. a 1631 Donne 80 Serm. ii. (1640) 14 God shall raise thee one peece by peece, into a spirituall building; And after one Story of Creation, and another of Vocation, [etc.]. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xxiv. clxxx, If Lucifer had never walk'd upon Complete Felicitie's transcendent Stories,..His Loss had finite been. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 40 Here you may see a very lovely Cascade of nine or ten Stories. 1693 Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard., Refl. Agric. 67 The Leaves..grow upon the Boughs Chequerwise, in little Stories or Steps at a small distance from each other. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Indies I. xxxi. 384 His Effigie is..carried..in Procession mounted on a Coach four Stories high. 1727 Pope, etc. Art of Sinking xiii. 74 A Rhetorical Chest of Drawers, consisting of three Stories. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 199 He painted in an age when the women erected edifices of three stories on their heads. 1763 Mills Pract. Husb. IV. 354 Three branches should be left..in the circumference of the tree, to from what is called the first story. At three feet above them, three other branches are left... The tree is to be formed into stories, in this manner, up to the top. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 545 To try how all the principles and precepts of religion, morality, and common prudence, in several stories supported by one another, may be rationally erected. 1826 J. T. Smith Bk. for Rainy Day (1845) 238 Among the old dandies of this description of wig we may class Mr. Saunders Welch,..he had nine stories. 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof 70 High over roaring Temple-bar, And set in Heaven's third story, I look at all things..thro' a kind of glory. 1874 Aldrich Prud. Palfrey xi. (1885) 172 It is so easy to add another story to the high opinion which other people have of you. |
c. the or one's upper story: jocularly used for the head as the seat of the mind or intellect.
| 1699 Bentley Phalaris 304 He..must have Brains..as well as Eyes in his Head. A man that has that Furniture in his upper Story, will discover [etc.]. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 10 June iii, What you imagine to be the..light of grace, I take to be a deceitful vapour, glimmering through a crack in your upper story. 1817 Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 57 By this means, in a week or so, I became not over capable in my upper stories. a 1837 John Scott in Lockhart Scott (1837) III. xi. 351 His neighbour.. cast many a curious sidelong glance at him, evidently suspecting that all was not right with the upper story. 1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 88/1, I wuz born weak in th' upper story. |
2. Each of a number of tiers or rows (of orders, columns, window mullions or lights, etc.) disposed horizontally one above another.
| 1412 [see clerestory]. 1449 in Cal. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. (1830) II. Pref. 54 Uppon þe furste flore in þe second story..shullen be xviij wyndowes haunsed. 1518–19 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 302 Paid for makyng of a fote of glas in the upper store in the Middyll Ile, iiij d. 1564 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 569 Item for scoweryng and newe trimmyng fower stories of olde yron at ijs. vj{supd}. the storie, xjs. 1624 Wotton Archit. i. 39 Where more of these Orders then one, shalbe set in seuerall Stories or Contignations, there must bee an exquisite care, to place the Columnes precisely, one ouer another. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 36 It stands so much higher, as..the third story of Columns. 1811 Milner Eccles. Archit. Eng. Pref. p. xv, The mullions of these windows, being continued down to the bottom of their story. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps v. §13. 148 The side of that church has three stories of arcade. a 1878 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. (1879) I. 88 The capitals which prevail in the upper storeys of the choir..I cannot think so early. |
3. Comb.:
story box, one of a series of boxes (for keeping bees) arranged one over the other (
cf. storify v.);
story post,
rod (see
quots. 1842);
† story wig, one with several rows of curls.
| 1780 J. Keys Pract. Bee-Master §170. 70 By keeping Bees both in *story and collateral boxes at the same time, I have..found [etc.]. |
| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 67 Oaken Carcasse, ground plates nine inches one way, seven inches the other; *Story Posts backwards nine inches one way and six inches the other. 1842 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Story Posts, upright timbers disposed in the story of a building for supporting the superincumbent part of the exterior wall through the medium of a beam over them; they are chiefly used in sheds and work-shops. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Builder 199 The *Story-rod is a rod of wood, equal in length to the height of the stairs. 1842 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Story Rod, one used in setting up a staircase, equal in length to the height of the story, and divided into as many parts as there are intended to be steps in the staircase, so that they may be measured and distributed with accuracy. |
| 1826 J. T. Smith Bk. for Rainy Day (1845) 238 The earliest engraved portraits of Dr. Johnson exhibit a wig with five rows of curls,..commonly called ‘a *story wig’. |
▪ III. story, v.1 (
ˈstɔərɪ)
[f. story n.1] 1. trans. In early use, to record historically; to relate the history of (
obs.); in later use, to tell as a story, to tell the story of. Often with clause as
obj. Now
rare; very common in the 16–17th c.,
esp. quasi-impers. in passive,
it is storied that{ddd} The original sense appears occasionally down to the end of the 17th c., but from the middle of the century, or even earlier, it is often difficult to determine whether the older or the newer use is intended.
Cf. the
n.| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour cxv. 156 She owithe well forto be..storied in scripture with other good ladyes. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xii. 351 Ech fundamental storie speking of this seid voice seith and storieth that it was mad in the eir. Ibid. 353 And this Eusebi..took up on him for to write and storie the hool lijf and the deeth of the same Constantyn. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 1353/1 It were a large and long proces to story al the doinges, trauailes, and wrytynges of this Christian Bishop [Latimer]. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xvii. (1611) 159 It is storied, that the old Eagles make proofe of their yong by exposing them [etc.]. 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 209 Their Tithes are not onely storied to haue been payed, but are strictly commanded to be payed. 1634 Milton Comus 516 What the sage Poets..Storied of old in high immortal vers Of dire Chimera's and inchanted Iles. 1649 Prynne Demurrer to Jews' Remitter 41 Nicholas Trivet..thus stories the Jews banishment. 1652 Sparke Prim. Devot. (1663) 583 On our British isles too (story some) This Canaanite bestowd first Christendom. 1657 G. Thornley Daphnis & Chloe 90 Daphnis then storied to her what he had seen. 1672 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. iii. ii. 33 Truth wrapt under these fables..as tis evident, by what is storied of the Floud. 1701 Howe Some Consid. Pref. Enquiry 7 That..which is storied of Plato, that having one in his Academy that [etc.]. 1796 Coleridge Ode to Departing Yr. 67 With many an unimaginable groan Thou storied'st thy sad hours! 1813 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. II. 414 Are you not afraid of seeing the Peninsula evacuated before you have storied the ancient explosions of independence? 1864 Spectator 538 A people who would lay all laws e'er sung Or storied at thy feet. |
† b. With
adv. to story forth: to proclaim the story of.
to story out: to invent stories of; also, ? to unravel the true story of.
Obs.| 1591 1st Pt. Troub. Raigne K. John E 4, My tongue is tunde to storie forth mishap. Ibid. G 4 b, I goe my selfe, the ioyfulst man aliue To storie out this new supposed crime. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal x. (1673) 188 Men once beleiv'd, Athos was sail'd about, And all that lying Greece dares story-out [L. et quicquid Graecia mendax Audet in historia.] |
2. To decorate with paintings or sculpture; to represent in painting or sculpture.
Cf. story n.1 8.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love ii. xiii. (Skeat) 76 Purtreytures storied with colours medled. 1812 Cary Dante, Purg. x. 66 There, was storied on the rock [It. Quivi era storiata] The exalted glory of the Roman prince..Trajan the Emperor. 1844 Hood Haunted Ho. iii. 285 Rich hangings, storied by the needle's art, With Scripture history, or classic fable. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth i, A window of stained glass, storied all over with armorial bearings. 1854 Talfourd Castilian iii. iv, The walls Of alabaster, storied with the deeds Of saints and martyrs. |
Hence
ˈstorying vbl. n., the action of the
vb.;
† a historical narrative; also
ˈstorying ppl. a.| c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. i. 133 Pi his writing in storiyng or cronycleing. Ibid. iii. xii. 354 The seid Damesis storiyng writun by Damasus long sithen Constantyn died. 1793 Coleridge Kisses 1 Cupid, if storying Legends tell aright, Once fram'd a rich Elixir of Delight. 1820 J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (ed. 2) 153 Thou hast thy records which surpass Or storying stone, or sculptured brass! |
▪ IV. ˈstory, v.2 Obs. [f. story n.2] trans. To arrange in ‘stories’ or strata one over the other.
| 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 12 All the parts of an undisturbed Fluid are either of equal Gravity, or gradually placed and storied according to the differences of it. |