archivenoun/ˈɑːkaɪv/

• 1

  Chiefly in the form archives.

  • The chiefeſt of the firſt Precinct vvas Lubeck, vvhere the Archives of their ancient Records, and their prime Chancery is ſtill, […]
  • The preſident accepted the Marquis's ſvvord—he ſtay'd a fevv minutes to ſee it depoſited in the archives of his houſe—and departed.
• 2

  Chiefly in the form archives.

  • His archive of Old High German texts is the most extensive in Britain.
  • [H]e took a particular Journy to Sparta, to ſearch the Archives of that famous Commonvvealth, to underſtand throughly the model of their ancient Government, their Legiſlators, their Kings, and their Ephori, […]
• 3

  biologyecologynatural-sciencesChiefly in the form archives.

  • peat archive    soil archive
  • Even these 100,000-year cycles seem to be subject to still longer fluctuations, but here the historical archive begins to be less reliable. The ice archive, in any case, can no longer help us (ice clearly does not preserve prehistorical temperatures directly, but rather atmospheric isotope signals, which are just as dependable).
• 4

  A collection, a repository.

  • [T]heſe curious meddlers in collecting and gathering together on all ſides the errours, imperfections, defaults, and ſolæciſmes (as I may ſo ſay) not of verſes or Poemes, but of other mens lives, make of their memorie a moſt unpleaſant Archive or Regiſter, and uncivile Record, vvhich they ever carie about them.
  • [S]o expert was he, and a living archive in that business: however, his post seems to have vanished with himself.

archiveverb/ˈɑːkaɪv/

• 1

  To place or store (something, such as a document or record) in an archive (noun sense 1.1).

  • I was planning on archiving the documents from 2001.
  • The library archives some of its older books.
• 2

  computingengineeringmathematicsTo transfer (less used or obsolete data, files, etc.) to a storage medium for long-term storage.