ARCHIVE

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. 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. 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.