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.
© Webster 1913.