All 4 Uses

anecdote
in
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
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It deals with one after another of the victims of the accident, cataloguing thousands of little facts and anecdotes and testimonies, and concluding with a dignified passage describing why God had settled upon that person and upon that day for His demonstration of wisdom.†
Chpt 1

anecdotes = short, true stories
He had read all the libertine masterpieces of Italy and France and reread them annually; even in the torments of the stone (happily dissolved by drinking the water from the springs of Santa Maria de Cluxambuqua), he could find nothing more nourishing than the anecdotes of Brantome and the divine Aretino.†
Chpt 4
Each one poured into the conversation his store of wise sad anecdotes and his dry regret about the race of men.
Chpt 4 *
He whispered into the Franciscan's ear such thoughts and anecdotes as belied the notion of a guided world.†
Chpt 5

Definitions:

(1) (anecdote)
a short story that is true -- often told for amusement or to make a point
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)