archive

[ahr-kahyv]

noun

1. Usually archives. documents or records relating to the activities, business dealings, etc., of a person, family, corporation, association, community, or nation.

2. archives, a place where public records or other historical documents are kept.

3. any extensive record or collection of data.

   The encyclopedia is an archive of world history. The experience was sealed in the archive of her memory.

4. Digital Technology.

   1. a long-term storage device, as a disk or magnetic tape, or a computer directory or folder that contains copies of files for backup or future reference.

   2. a collection of digital data stored in this way.

   3. a computer file containing one or more compressed files.

   4. a collection of information permanently stored on the internet.

      The magazine has its entire archive online, from 1923 to the present.

verb (used with object)

archived, archiving 

1. to place or store in an archive.

   to vote on archiving the city's historic documents.

2. Digital Technology.,  to compress (computer files) and store them in a single file.

archive

/ ˈɑːkaɪv /

noun

1. a collection of records of or about an institution, family, etc

2. a place where such records are kept

3. computing data transferred to a tape or disk for long-term storage rather than frequent use

verb

1. to store (documents, data, etc) in an archive or other repository

Other Word Forms

• archival adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of archive¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; originally, as plural, from French archives, from the Late Latin plural noun archīva, archīa “public records,” from Greek archeîa “public records,” plural of archeîon “town hall, public office,” equivalent to archḗ “magistracy, office” + -eion suffix of location

Word History and Origins

Origin of archive¹

C17: from Late Latin archīvum, from Greek arkheion repository of official records, from arkhē government

Example Sentences

The BBC archive features Fr Daly telling a reporter that soldiers "just seemed to fire in all directions" and he was "absolutely certain" that there was no provocation.

Read more on BBC

The result was a hundred-page archive of our precious final months together.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

There was an archive clip: Davies' try, with French's words.

Read more on BBC

At the height of this crisis, a man named Martin Hartig, an economist and tax adviser according to records in Berlin's archives, began to loom large in the Eisners' lives.

Read more on BBC

Try testing your memory with our latest weekly quiz, or have a go at something from the archives.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• annals