Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Archive
Ar′chive
,Noun.
pl.
Archives
. [F.
archives
, pl., L. archivum
, archium
, fr. Gr. [GREEK] government house, [GREEK] [GREEK] archives, fr. [GREEK] the first place, government. See Archi-
, pref
.] 1.
pl.
The place in which public records or historic documents are kept.
Our words . . . . become records in God’s court, and are laid up in his
archives
as witnesses. Gov. of Tongue.
2.
pl.
Public records or documents preserved as evidence of facts;
as, the
. archives
of a country or family[Rarely used in
sing.
] Some rotten
archive
, rummaged out of some seldom explored press. Lamb.
Syn. – Registers; records; chronicles.