documents

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of document.

   Investigators seized boxes of financial documents from the office.

   The archive holds thousands of historical documents dating back centuries.

   Note

   The plural covers every kind of record the singular names: official papers offered as proof, any written material, text files on a computer, and indexed objects of any sort. Because the same spelling is also a verb, its neighbors decide it. After a determiner or adjective (the documents, financial documents) it is this noun. After a singular subject it is the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of document.

   The journalist carefully documents every detail of the investigation.

   Her diary documents the slow transformation of the town over many years.

   Note

   Behind the agreement ending sits a verb with two jobs: recording something in documents, and furnishing something with the papers that establish its facts. It usually takes a direct object, often with proof in mind. Someone who documents everything can show it was done correctly. The subject can be a person or the record itself. The spelling it shares with the noun is sorted out under the plural noun.

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