Wiktionary

remember

English

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From Middle English remembren, from Old French remembrer (“to remember”), from Late Latin rememorari (“to remember again”), from re- + memor (“mindful”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *(s)mer- (“to think about, be mindful, remember”). Cognate with Old English mimorian, mymerian (“to remember, commemorate”), Old English māmorian (“to deliberate, plan out, design”). More at mammer.

etymology note

The success of the Old French word was helped by its proximity in sound and meaning to an existing Germanic word: Old English mimorian, mymerian (“to remember, commemorate”) from Proto-Germanic *mimrōną, *mīmrōną (“to remember, be mindful”), from the same Indo-European source, and is akin to Saterland Frisian miemerje (“to ponder, reflect”), Middle Low German mimeren (“to ponder, meditate”), Middle Dutch mimeren (“to reflect, think to oneself”) (Dutch mijmeren (“to muse, reflect deeply”)), Old English ġemimor (“mindful”), Old Norse Mímir, Mim (“Norse god of memory”), Old English māmrian (“to think out, design”). Related to mourn.

Displaced native Middle English ȝemuneȝen (“to remember”), from Old English ġemynegian (“to remember, remind”); Middle English minnen (“to remember, have in mind”), from Old Norse minna (“to remind”); Middle English munden, ȝemunden (“to bear in mind, remember”), from Old English ġemynd (“memory, remembrance”); Middle English ithenchen, ȝethenchen (“to think on, remember”), from Old English ġeþencan; Middle English manien (“to remind, mention, remember”), from Old English manian (“to admonish, remind, mention”).

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

remember (third-person singular simple present remembers, present participle remembering, simple past and past participle remembered)

  1. To recall from one's memory; to have an image in one's memory.
    • 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion‎[1], page 266:
      In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      […] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”.
    • 1971, Lyndon Johnson, The Vantage Point‎[2], Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 104:
      A man's vision reflects his memories. As I looked out on the nation from the President's Oval Office, my reflections included images burned deep in my mind for over a half a century. I remembered my father's concern for the tenant farmer and for the workers' need for collective bargaining. I remembered my mother's deep faith in the value of education. I remembered the pinched and hopeless look of poverty I saw on the faces of the Mexican-American children I had taught. I remembered the army of jobless and ragged men who rode grimy boxcars across our country during the Depression. These and a hundred other separate recollections of struggle and hope were all part of my heritage. They formed a portion of the background against which I developed the programs I felt America wanted and needed.
    • 2012, Mick Brown, Tearing Down The Wall of Sound: The Rise And Fall of Phil Spector:
      Spencer remembers the session as being 'as boring as beans'. A handful of copies of the record were pressed with the catalogue number Philles 111, and copies sent to both Sill and Finfer.
    • 2015, Orren Merton, The Dawning of Firebird Alex:
      […] take the Ginger Line overground from Canada Water to Penge West. So you'll be getting off the Tube, and taking the train. I know you're American, but can you remember that?
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      Remember me? I live in your building.
      Audio (US):(file)
    • 2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in The Guardian‎[3]:
      We have met twice this year and, during our first interview, Mata spoke evocatively when remembering how, having joined Real Oviedo aged 10 in 1998, he was given a previously unimaginable opportunity. Mata sat in a car park in 2003, when he was 14, and watched his father talking to a Real Madrid scout.
    • 2021, President Joe Biden, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      To heal, we must remember. It's hard sometimes to remember, but that's how we heal. It's important to do that as a nation.
  2. To memorize; to put something into memory.
    Please remember this formula!
  3. To keep in mind; to be mindful of.
    Remember what I've said.
  4. To not forget (to do something required)
    Remember to lock the door when you go out.
  5. To convey greetings from.
    Please remember me to your brother.
    She asks to be remembered to you all.
  6. (obsolete) To put in mind; to remind (also used reflexively).
  7. (intransitive) To engage in the process of recalling memories.
    You don't have to remind him; he remembers very well.
  8. (transitive) To give (a person) money as a token of appreciation of past service or friendship.
    My aunt remembered me in her will, leaving me several thousand pounds.
    • 2003, Little Visits 365 Family Devotions: Building Faith for a Lifetime, Concordia Publishing House:
      Waitresses, mail carriers, and teachers were often remembered on Boxing Day.
  9. (transitive) To commemorate, to have a remembrance ceremony.
    Today we remember and honour those who have served.
Usage notes
edit
Conjugation
edit
Conjugation of remember
infinitive (to) remember
present tense past tense
1st-person singular remember remembered
2nd-person singular remember, rememberest† remembered, rememberedst†
3rd-person singular remembers, remembereth† remembered
plural remember
subjunctive remember remembered
imperative remember —
participles remembering remembered

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms
edit
Synonyms
edit
Derived terms
edit
Descendants
edit
  • Sranan Tongo: memre
Translations
edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

edit

Etymology 2

edit

From re- +‎ member.

Verb

edit

remember (third-person singular simple present remembers, present participle remembering, simple past and past participle remembered)

  1. (rare) Alternative form of re-member
    • 1982, Book Review Digest, volume 78, page 824:
      knit 'this scattered corn into one mutual sheaf, / these broken limbs again into one body' - in other words, how to resurrect the dismembered god, to remember Osiris. Yet the only body made whole in these expert, lowering poems is the body of this death.
    • 2008, Jan Assmann, Of God and Gods: Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism, page 42:
      According to these mysteries, the rites of fashioning or remembering Osiris came to be interpreted as remembering Egypt. Egypt was the body of Osiris, dismembered and scattered across the land.
    • 2010, Sandra Ingerman, Medicine for the Earth, page 100:
      She remembered Osiris by putting his pieces back together and mating with him one last time, conceiving Horus, who eventually avenged his father's death.
    • 2012, Roy Melvyn, The Lost Writings of Wu Hsin: Pointers to Non Duality in Five Volumes, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:
      To dismember is to tear apart; / To re-member is to put back together. / The old must be dismembered / So that which was prior to it / May be remembered. / Therefore, to re-mind is / To dismember and then re-member.
Alternative forms
edit

Anagrams

edit

Portuguese

edit

Etymology

edit

From English remember.

Noun

edit

remember m (plural remembers)

  1. (informal) The act of having sex with one's ex.
    E aí, soube que você encontrou a Andreia. Rolou um remember?
    What's up, I heard you met up with Andreia. Did you hook up?
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=remember&oldid=83069377"
  NODES
chat 1
Note 4
Verify 4