mind regarded as a store of things remembered: he searched his memory frantically for an answer. - the capacity of a substance to return to a previous state or condition after having been altered or deformed. See also SHAPE MEMORY. 2 something remembered from the past; a recollection: one of my earliest memories is of sitting on his knee | the mind can bury all memory of traumatic abuse. - the remembering or recollection of a dead person, esp. one who was popular or respected: clubs devoted to the memory of Sherlock Holmes. - the length of time over which people continue