noun
- a folder, cabinet, or other container in which papers, letters, etc., are arranged in convenient order for storage or reference.
- a collection of papers, records, etc., arranged in convenient order: to make a file for a new account.
- Computers. a collection of related data or program records stored on some input/output or auxiliary storage medium: This program’s main purpose is to update the customer master file.
- a line of persons or things arranged one behind another (distinguished from rank1def 10).
- Military.
- a person in front of or behind another in a military formation.
- one step on a promotion list.
- one of the vertical lines of squares on a chessboard.
- a list or roll.
- a string or wire on which papers are strung for preservation and reference.
verb (used with object), filed, fil·ing.
- to place in a file.
- to arrange (papers, records, etc.) in convenient order for storage or reference.
- Journalism.
- to arrange (copy) in the proper order for transmittal by wire.
- to transmit (copy), as by wire or telephone: He filed copy from Madrid all through the war.
verb (used without object), filed, fil·ing.
- to march in a file or line, one after another, as soldiers: The parade filed past endlessly.
- to make application: to file for a civil-service job.
- on file, arranged in order for convenient reference; in a file: The names are on file in the office.
noun
- a long, narrow tool of steel or other metal having a series of ridges or points on its surfaces for reducing or smoothing surfaces of metal, wood, etc.
- a small, similar tool for trimming and cleaning fingernails; nail file.
- British Slang. a cunning, shrewd, or artful person.
verb (used with object), filed, fil·ing.
- to reduce, smooth, or remove with or as if with a file.
verb (used with object), filed, fil·ing. Archaic.
- to defile; corrupt.
noun New Orleans Cookery.
- a powder made from the ground leaves of the sassafras tree, used as a thickener and to impart a pungent taste to soups, gumbos, and other dishes.
noun
- a folder, box, etc, used to keep documents or other items in order
- the documents, etc, kept in this way
- documents or information about a specific subject, person, etcwe have a file on every known thief
- an orderly line or row
- a line of people in marching formation, one behind anotherCompare rank 1 (def. 6)
- any of the eight vertical rows of squares on a chessboard
- computing a named collection of information, in the form of text, programs, graphics, etc, held on a permanent storage device such as a magnetic disk
- obsolete a list or catalogue
- Canadian a group of problems or responsibilities, esp in government, associated with a particular topicthe environment file
- on file recorded or catalogued for reference, as in a file
verb
- to place (a document, letter, etc) in a file
- (tr) to put on record, esp to place (a legal document) on public or official record; register
- (tr) to bring (a suit, esp a divorce suit) in a court of law
- (tr) to submit (copy) to a newspaper or news agency
- (intr) to march or walk in a file or filesthe ants filed down the hill
noun
- a hand tool consisting essentially of a steel blade with small cutting teeth on some or all of its faces. It is used for shaping or smoothing metal, wood, etc
- rare, British slang a cunning or deceitful person
verb
- (tr) to shape or smooth (a surface) with a file
verb
- (tr) obsolete to pollute or defile
“to place (papers) in consecutive order for future reference,” mid-15c., from Middle French filer “string documents on a wire for preservation or reference,” from fil “thread, string” (12c.), from Latin filum “a thread, string,” from PIE *gwhis-lom (cf. Armenian jil “sinew, string, line,” Lithuanian gysla “vein, sinew,” Old Church Slavonic zila “vein”), from root *gwhi- “thread, tendon.” The notion is of documents hung up on a line.
File (filacium) is a threed or wyer, whereon writs, or other exhibits in courts, are fastened for the better keeping of them. [Cowel, “The Interpreter,” 1607]
Methods have become more sophisticated, but the word has stuck. Related: Filed; filing.
metal tool, Old English feol (Mercian fil), from Proto-Germanic *finkhlo (cf. Old Saxon and Old High German fila, Middle Dutch vile, Dutch vijl, German Feile), probably from PIE *peig- “to cut, mark by incision” (see paint (v.)). The verb in this sense is from early 13c., from Old English filian. Related: Filed; filing.
1520s, “string or wire on which documents are strung,” from French file “row,” from Middle French filer (see file (v.)). The meaning “arranged collection of papers” is from 1620s; computer sense is from 1954. The military sense “line or row of men” (1590s) is from the French verb in the sense of “spin out (thread); march in file.”
- A collection of related data or program records stored as a unit with a single name. Files are the basic units that a computer works with in storing and retrieving data.
see in single file; on file; rank and file.