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file

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: File, filé, and fíle

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /faɪl/, [faɪ̯(ə)ɫ]
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪl

Etymology 1

From Old French fil (“thread”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”). Doublet of filum.

Noun

file (plural files)

  1. A collection of papers collated and archived together.
  2. A roll or list.
  3. A course of thought; a thread of narration.
  5. (computing) An aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name.
    He had created a file for coding to design a new product.
    I'm going to delete these unwanted files to free up some disk space.
  6. A row of modular kitchen units and a countertop, consisting of cabinets and appliances below (dishwasher) and next to (stove/cooker) a countertop.
    Many homes now have double-file kitchens.
  7. (Canada, US) Clipping of file cabinet.
    • 2010, Beth Critchley Charlton, Englaging the DisEngaged‎, page 71:
      The Nonfiction Vertical File: […] I spent my university years working in the library at the Maritime School of Social Work. One of my responsibilities was to keep the library's vertical file up to date. The vertical file was a cabinet full of current newspaper and magazine clippings on topics of interest to the students and faculty of the school.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of file (etymology 1)
Derived terms
Derived terms of file (etymology 1)
Descendants
Descendants
Translations

Verb

file (third-person singular simple present files, present participle filing, simple past and past participle filed)

  1. (transitive) To commit (official papers) to some office.
    She filed their accounts yesterday.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:
      The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters).
  2. (transitive) (of a journalist) To submit (an article) to a newspaper or similar publication.
    I filed my copy soon after the interview.
  3. (transitive) To place in an archive in a logical place and order.
    Troves of documents filed away in the depository.
  4. (transitive) To store a file (aggregation of data) on a storage medium such as a disc or another computer.
  6. (intransitive, with for, chiefly law) To submit a formal request to some office.
    She filed for divorce the next day.
    The company filed for bankruptcy when the office opened on Monday.
    They filed for a refund under their warranty.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To set in order; to arrange, or lay away.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From French file, from filer (“to spin out, arrange one behind another”), from Latin fīlāre, from filum (“thread”).

Noun

file (plural files)

  2. A column of people one behind another, whether "single file" or in a grid pattern.
    Antonym: rank
    The troops marched in Indian file.
  3. (military) A small detachment of soldiers.
  5. (chess) One of the eight vertical lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a letter).
    Antonym: rank
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

file (third-person singular simple present files, present participle filing, simple past and past participle filed)

  1. (intransitive) To move in a file.
    The applicants kept filing into the room until it was full.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English file, fyle, from Old English fēl, fēol (“file”), from earlier fīil, from Proto-Germanic *finhlō, *finhilō (“file, rasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“to adorn, form”). Cognate with West Frisian file (“file”), Dutch vijl (“file”), German Feile (“file”).

Noun

file (plural files)

  2. A tool consisting of a strip or rod of hardened and coarse metal, used for removing sharp edges, shaping, and cutting, especially through metal; usually a hand tool.
    Hypernym: tool
    Hyponym: rasp (sometimes construed as coordinate)
  3. (slang, archaic) A cunning or resourceful person.
Derived terms
terms derived from file (tool) (noun)
Translations

Verb

file (third-person singular simple present files, present participle filing, simple past and past participle filed)

  1. (transitive) To smooth, grind, or cut with a file.
    I'd better file the bottoms of the table legs. Otherwise they will scratch the flooring.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
      Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English filen (“to defile”), from Old English fȳlan (“to defile, make foul”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūlijan (“to make foul”). More at defile.

Verb

file (third-person singular simple present files, present participle filing, simple past and past participle filed)

  1. (archaic) To defile.
  2. To corrupt.
Derived terms

Anagrams

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Dutch

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French file (“line, row”), from Late Latin filare, from Latin filum (“thread”). Related to fileren (“to fillet”) and file (“computer file”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfilə/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: fi‧le

Noun

file f (plural files, diminutive filetje n)

  1. traffic jam
    Synonym: opstopping
  2. (dated) queue
    Synonym: rij
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From English file (“computer file”), from Old French fil (“thread”), from Latin filum (“thread”). Related to fileren (“to fillet”) and file (“queue, traffic jam”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɑi̯l/, /fɛi̯l/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: file

Noun

file m (plural files, diminutive filetje n)

  1. (computing) file (an aggregation of data on a storage device identified by a name)

Anagrams

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Esperanto

Etymology

fil- + -e

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfile/
  • Rhymes: -ile
  • Hyphenation: fi‧le

Adverb

file

  1. filially (in a filial manner or way)

Finnish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfileˣ/, [ˈfile̞(ʔ)]
  • Rhymes: -ile
  • Syllabification(key): fi‧le
  • Hyphenation(key): fi‧le

Noun

file

  1. alternative form of filee

Declension

More information nominative, genitive ...
More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...

Derived terms

compounds

Further reading

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French

Etymology

From fil or the verb filer.

Pronunciation

Noun

file f (plural files)

  1. a line of objects placed one after the other
  2. (Belgium) traffic jam
    Synonyms: bouchon, embouteillage

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Dutch: file (“queue, traffic jam”)
  • → English: file (“column of people”)
  • → Spanish: fila

Verb

file

  1. inflection of filer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

Anagrams

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Irish

Italian

Northern Kurdish

Norwegian Nynorsk

Old Irish

Picard

Portuguese

Slovene

Spanish

Swahili

Turkish

Vietnamese

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