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.