story

Etymology 1

From Middle English storie, storye, from Anglo-Norman estorie by aphesis. The Anglo-Norman word itself comes from Latin historia, a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἱστορίᾱ (historíā, “learning through research”). Doublet of history and storey.

noun

1. An account of real or fictional events.
   ...it must be exploded for fabulous, with other relics of ancient story... 1673, William Temple, An Essay upon the Advancement of Trade in Ireland
   June 1861, Edinburgh Review, The Kingdom of Italy Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story...
   So, what happened? It's quite a long story actually... Really? Don't worry about it then. 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4
   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. 2013-06-29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55
   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?
   He stood on the doorstep for a minute, listening for sounds inside the house — a radio, a TV tuned to one of the stories […] 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things
4. (obsolete) History.
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. File:The images it captured help tell a story.ogg
6. (social media, sometimes capitalized) 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.
   Worshippers in Mecca are streaming their stories live on Snapchat, opening up the Saudi city to non-Muslims online. 2015-07-14, Aisha Gani, “Mecca worshippers stream their stories live on Snapchat”, in The Guardian
   People can make stories public or private, and can choose if they want only a subsection of their followers to view them. 2016-08-02, Mike Isaac, “Instagram Takes a Page From Snapchat, and Takes Aim at It, Too”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
   I have come across a few (OK, two) Stories that have made me laugh. And when that happens, the medium frustrates even more with its fleetingness. But here’s hoping the Instagram Stories on my feed improve as time goes by. The End. 2016-08-12, Hannah Jane Parkinson, “Instagram Stories: who cares about your commute or cleansing routine?”, in The Guardian
7. (computing) Ellipsis of user story.

verb

1. To tell as a story; to relate or narrate about.
   It is storied of the brazen colossus in Rhodes, that it was seventy cubits high.
   The further claim is that we create or invent the self specifically by “writing” and “storying” it. 2004-01-10, Galen Strawson, “Review: Making Stories by Jerome Bruner”, in The Guardian

Etymology 2

noun

1. (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of storey.
   Our shop was on the fourth story of the building, so we had to install an elevator.
   An astonishing proportion of village people had replaced their old houses with new ones built of better materials, often two stories high. 1994, David K. Jordan, “The Popular Practice of Religion”, in Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, Westview Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 139
   The Wooden Pagoda in Ying County of Shanxi, built 1,000 years ago, has nine stories and is 234 feet high. 2016, Xiaobing Li, “Art and Architecture”, in Modern China, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 292