The DICT Development Group

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Our words . . . . become records in God's court, and
              are laid up in his archives as witnesses. --Gov. of
                                                    Tongue.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. pl. Public records or documents preserved as evidence of
        facts; as, the archives of a country or family.
        [1913 Webster] [Rarely used in sing.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Some rotten archive, rummaged out of some seldom
              explored press.                       --Lamb.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Registers; records; chronicles.
          [1913 Webster]

  archive
       n : a depository containing historical records and documents
           [syn: archives]
       v : put into an archive [syn: file away]

  archive
       
          1.  A single file containing one or (usually)
          more separate files plus information to allow them to be
          extracted (separated) by a suitable program.
       
          Archives are usually created for software distribution or
          backup.  tar is a common format for Unix archives, and
          arc or PKZIP for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.
       
          2.  To transfer files to slower, cheaper
          media (usually magnetic tape) to free the hard disk space
          they occupied.  This is now normally done for long-term
          storage but in the 1960s, when disk was much more expensive,
          files were often shuffled regularly between disk and tape.
       
          3.  archive site.
       
          (1996-12-08)