/ ˈɑːkaɪv; NAmE ˈɑːrk-/ noun , verb
■ noun
(also arch·ives [ pl. ]) a collection of historical documents or records of a government, a family, a place or an organization; the place where these records are stored :
the National Sound Archive
archive film
The BBC's archives are bulging with material.
■ verb [ vn ]
1.
to put or store a document or other material in an archive
2.
( computing ) to move information that is not often needed to a tape or disk to store it
••
WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent. (in the sense place where records are kept ): from French archives (plural), from Latin archiva , archia , from Greek arkheia public records, from arkhē government. The verb dates from the late 19th cent.