file

Less common meanings

5. 5
   smoothing toolnouncountable

   A hand tool with a rough or abrasive surface, used to shape or smooth something, such as metal, wood or fingernails, by rubbing away small bits.

   The blacksmith reached for a file to remove the burrs from the blade.

   A few strokes with the file left the edge perfectly smooth.

   Note

   Here is a different word altogether, despite the spelling. It has nothing to do with the thread behind the paper file. Metalwork is its home: you take a file to burrs, sharp edges and rough surfaces. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The tool word belongs to the Germanic tool-word family, separate from the Latin thread origin of the paper-record word. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   smooth by rubbingverbtransitive

   To smooth, grind, or cut a surface by rubbing it with a file.

   The jeweler filed the ring until the seam disappeared.

   You should file the burrs off the cut pipe.

   UsageOften file down or file off: file down a sharp edge, file the burrs off.

   Similarsmooth, grind, rasp, abrade

7. 7
   column of peoplenouncountable or uncountable

   A column of people positioned one behind another, either in a single line or in a grid.

   The hikers moved in single file across the bridge.

   The troops formed neat files before the inspection.

   UsageMostly in the set phrase in single file, one person behind another.

   Similarcolumn, line, queue

   Oppositerank

   Note

   A second borrowing, by a separate road: French file, from filer, 'to arrange one behind another', itself from Latin fīlum. A file runs from front to back, and its opposite is rank. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The column-of-people sense is a separate borrowing from French file, through filer, ultimately from Latin fīlum. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To move along one behind another in a single line or column.

   Mourners file past the open casket one at a time.

   The recruits filed onto the parade ground at dawn.

   UsageFollowed by a direction: file past, file into, file out of a room.

   Similartroop, march, walk

9. 9
   cabinetnounCanadaUSabbreviationclipping

   Short for file cabinet: a piece of office furniture with drawers for storing papers in folders.

   He pulled open the top drawer of the file and dug for last year's forms.

   The bottom drawer of the metal file beside her desk was too full to close.

   Note

   A North American office clipping: drop cabinet from file cabinet and the furniture keeps its name. Beth Critchley Charlton, writing in 2010, shows the overlap when a library's 'vertical file' turns out to be a cabinet. Because files also hold the papers themselves, context has to tell you whether a file is the folder or the furniture. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • The North American furniture sense of file is a clipping of file cabinet. en.wiktionary.org
   • Beth Critchley Charlton's relevant book, Engaging the DisEngaged, appeared in 2010. routledge.com
   • Charlton describes a library's vertical file as a cabinet. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    send storyverbtransitive

    Of a reporter, to send in a story or article for publication in a newspaper or similar outlet.

    Correspondents file their dispatches as soon as the event ends.

    She filed an exclusive interview minutes before the print deadline.

    UsageReporters file a story or report, frequently from the scene.

    Similarsubmit, send

11. 11
    chess columnnouncountable

    Any of the eight vertical columns of squares on a chessboard, each identified by a letter.

    Doubling both rooks on a single file gave White a decisive advantage.

    Black doubled her rooks on the open file and soon broke through to White's back rank.

    Similarcolumn

    Oppositerank

    Note

    Chess keeps the geometry of the column of people: files run straight up the board from one player toward the other. Its counterpart is rank, and between them they name every square, with the square's letter coming from its file. A rook moving along a file travels toward or away from the opponent rather than across the board. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The chess sense shares the column geometry of a file of people. en.wiktionary.org
    • Files run vertically between the players; ranks run horizontally. en.wikipedia.org
    • A square is identified by its file and rank, with its letter supplied by the file. en.wikipedia.org
    • A rook can move toward or away from the opponent along a file. handbook.fide.com
12. 12
    nounobsoletecountable

    A roll or written list of names or entries.

    a file of all the gentry

    c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”

    Similarroll, list, register, roster

13. 13
    crafty personnounarchaic

    A cunning or resourceful person, especially a sly and shrewd one.

    Will is an old file, in spite of his smooth face.

    1857, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century

    The greatest character among them was that of a Pickpocket, or, in truer language, a File.

    1743, Henry Fielding, The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild

    Note

    Old slang built on the tool's word. Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild (1743) calls a pickpocket 'in truer language, a File'. By Thackeray's The Virginians, the word praises a shrewd customer: 'Will is an old file, in spite of his smooth face.' Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The slang sense belongs to the tool word's etymological family. en.wiktionary.org
    • Henry Fielding's Jonathan Wild was first published in 1743, in volume III of Miscellanies. en.wikipedia.org
    • The original publication's title-page imprint gives 1743. catalog.etoncollege.com
    • The narrator of Jonathan Wild calls a pickpocket a file using the quoted wording. gutenberg.org
    • William Makepeace Thackeray wrote The Virginians; Lord Castlewood uses the quoted words to describe Will's shrewdness. gutenberg.org
14. 14
    make dirtyverbarchaic

    To make foul or unclean; to defile.

    for Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind

    c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”

    Note

    Unrelated to the thread, the column or the tool, this verb is Old English fȳlan, 'to make foul', the word that survives in defile. Shakespeare's Macbeth spells it 'fil'd': 'for Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind.' A reader who hears metal being filed there has misread the line. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The verb meaning 'defile' has a separate etymology from the thread, column and tool senses and descends from Old English fȳlan, meaning 'to make foul'. en.wiktionary.org
    • This file survives as an element of defile. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare's Macbeth contains the quoted line, spoken by Macbeth; the First Folio spelling is fil'd. en.wikisource.org
    • File in this line means defile, rather than work with a metal file. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    nouncountable

    A holder for loose papers, in the form of a folder, binder, or box, that keeps them together and in sequence.

    An expanding file with a pocket for each month keeps the household receipts in order.

    The office ordered a carton of hanging files for the new cabinets.

    Similarfolder

    Note

    The holder and its contents share a name: the papers inside are a file, and so is the folder or box that keeps them, so a thick file can mean either.

16. 16
    noun

    A small body of soldiers detached from a larger force.
17. 17
    nounobsolete

    A course of thought, or the connected thread running through a story or argument.

    Let me resume the file of my narration.

    1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers
18. 18
    nounrare

    A row of kitchen cabinets and appliances along one wall, used chiefly in the layout names single-file kitchen and double-file kitchen.