archive

[ahr-kahyv] /ˈɑr kaɪv/
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archives, a place where public records or other historical documents are kept.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.
5.
to place or store in an archive:
to vote on archiving the city's historic documents.
6.
Digital Technology. to compress (computer files) and store them in a single file.
Origin
1595-1605; orig., as plural < French archives < Latin archī(v)a < Greek archeîa, orig. plural of archeîon public office, equivalent to arch(ḗ) magistracy, office + -eion suffix of place
Examples from the web for archive
  • Each archive will cater to a specific scientific discipline.
  • Our multimedia archive and library will continue to be updated.
  • The group also recently added current journal articles to its archive.
  • Here are some cool digital archives or archive-related projects we've come across lately.
  • Browse the adventure and exploration photos in our archive-each one ready to be downloaded as wallpaper.
  • Sad to see that this article wasn't nearly as thorough, and also that the online archive doesn't go back nearly that far.
  • In the past it would have been impractical to archive all of this information.
  • Delicious can create a living, breathing archive of relevant information surrounding important keywords.
  • Changes in the legal deposit legislation are necessary to allow exceptions for memory organizations to archive video games.
  • Literature-our great archive of human expression-is deeply contextual and historicized.
British Dictionary definitions for archive

archive

/ˈɑːkaɪv/
noun (often pl)
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 (transitive)
4.
to store (documents, data, etc) in an archive or other repository
Derived Forms
archival, adjective
Word Origin
C17: from Late Latin archīvum, from Greek arkheion repository of official records, from arkhē government
Word Origin and History for archive
v.

1819 (implied in archived), from archives. Related: Archiving.

archive in Technology


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)