history-n; 4 Senses

Sense Number 1: the past, the continuum of events aggregating over time

Commentary: HISTORY[+expanse][+temporal][+continuum][+event][+past] the aggregate of past events
NOTE: does not imply the existence of a specific document or account, just the events themselves.

Examples:
The patient has no medical history of fainting spells.
It was a turning point in the history of the American people.
The history of the universe may have begun with a big bang.
The Smiths have a family history of alcoholism.
There have been wars throughout human history.
The fossil record may not reveal the very earliest history of life on earth.
The Red Sox defeated the Yankees four in a row and the rest is history. (more famous past events that followed defeating Yankees - winning World Series)
Henry Ford said that history is bunk.
Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

Mappings:
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 1, 4, 5

Sense Number 2: a narrative of the past, a record

Commentary: HISTORY[+entity][+artifact][+repository][+information][+past][+written/+spoken]
NOTE: implies the existence of a particular account, chronicle or record of something. account, chronicle - a record or narrative description of past events
NOTE: often a document of some type

Examples:
He wrote the definitive history of the Roman Empire.
These stories have been passed down through the oral history of the tribe.
John is reading one of Shakespeare's histories, I believe, Richard III.
The lawyer had his assistant review the case histories. (dossiers on individuals)
Critics say this new history is full of factual error and poor scholarship.

Mappings:
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 2

Sense Number 3: a discipline, a branch of knowledge

Commentary: HISTORY[+entity][+symbolic][+knowledge][+discipline][+scholarly] [+activity][+pursuit][+scholarly][+knowledge][+event][+past] the scholarly discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings

Examples:
He teaches medieval history at the local college.
Zoology is a branch of natural history.
Mary is enjoying her art history class.
History is a discipline that requires careful examination of primary sources and records.

Mappings:
WordNet 3.0 Sense Numbers: 3

Sense Number 4: finished, irrelevant

Commentary: HISTORY[+state][+completed][-relevant]
NOTE: a specialized, figurative usage of Sense 1 slang term meaning done or finished, part of history now

Examples:
That guy is history.
After that incident, the two of them are history.
When I finished level two of the video game all those monsters were history.

Mappings:
WordNet 0.0 Sense Numbers: 4