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. pl. The place in which public records or historic
      documents are kept.
      
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            Our words . . . . become records in God's court, and
            are laid up in his archives as witnesses. --Gov. of
                                                  Tongue.
      
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   2. pl. Public records or documents preserved as evidence of
      facts; as, the archives of a country or family.
      
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 [Rarely used in sing.]
      
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            Some rotten archive, rummaged out of some seldom
            explored press.                       --Lamb.
      
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   Syn: Registers; records; chronicles.
        
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