Ar″chive (�), n.; pl.Archives (�). [F. archives, pl., L. archivum, archium, fr. Gr. � government house, � � archives, fr. � 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.