file

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /faɪl/, [faɪ̯ɫ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪl

Old French fil (“thread”), from Latin filum (“thread”).

file (plural files)

1. A collection of papers collated and archived together.
   • Shakespeare

     It is upon a file with the duke's other letters.

2. A roll or list.
   • Shakespeare

     a file of all the gentry

3. Course of thought; thread of narration.
   • Sir H. Wotton

     Let me resume the file of my narration.

4. (computing) An aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name.

   I'm going to delete these unwanted files to free up some disk space.

• (collection): document, a paper

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.
   • 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) To place in an archive in a logical place and order
3. (transitive) To store a file (aggregation of data) on a storage medium such as a disc or another computer.
4. (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.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To set in order; to arrange, or lay away.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     I would have my several courses and my dishes well filed.

• filings
• file away

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

file (plural files)

1. A column of people one behind another, whether "single file" or in a large group with many files side by side.

   The troops marched in Indian file.

2. (military) A small detachment of soldiers.
3. (chess) one of the eight vertical lines of squares on a chessboard (i.e., those identified by a letter). The analog horizontal lines are the ranks.

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.

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”).

A file (tool).

file (plural files)

1. A hand tool consisting of a handle to which a block of coarse metal is attached, and used for removing sharp edges or for cutting, especially through metal.
2. (slang, archaic) A cunning or resourceful person.
   • Thackeray

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

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fielding to this entry?)

• rasp

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 752825175, page 071:

     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.

• file down
• file off
• filing

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

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

1. (archaic) to defile

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

2. to corrupt

• Life, flie, lief, life

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

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fi‧le

file f (plural files, diminutive filetje n)

1. traffic jam
2. queue

• opstopping

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

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: file

file m (plural files, diminutive filetje n)

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

• lief

fil- + -e

file

1. filially (in a filial manner or way)

From fil or the verb filer.

• IPA^(key): /fil/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: fil, filent, files, fils, Phil, -phile

file f (plural files)

1. A line of objects placed one after the other.
2. (Belgium) traffic jam

• (jam): bouchon, embouteillage

• file d'attente
• chef de file

• → English: file (“column of people”)
• → Spanish: fila

file

1. first-person singular present indicative of filer
2. third-person singular present indicative of filer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of filer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of filer
5. second-person singular imperative of filer

• “file” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• fiel

From Old Irish fili, from Primitive Irish ᚃᚓᚂᚔᚈᚐᚄ (velitas), from Proto-Celtic *weless.

file m (genitive singular file, nominative plural filí)

1. poet

file m (invariable)

1. (computing) file

file f

1. plural of fila

• elfi

• fele, fileh, fillah, fille

From Arabic فَلَّاح‎ (fallāḥ).[1] Sedentary Armenians called so after their way of life by nomadic Kurds.[2]

file m or f

1. Armenian
2. Christian
3. peasant, farmer

• filekî
• fileyî

• Jaba, Auguste; Justi, Ferdinand (1879) Dictionnaire Kurde-Français [Kurdish–French Dictionary], Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, page 294b
• Kurdojev, K. K. (1960), “file”, in Kurdsko-russkij slovarʹ [Kurdish–Russian Dictionary], Moscow: Gosudarstvennoje izdatelʹstvo inostrannyx i nacionalʹnyx slovarej, page 263a

file

1. Alternative form of fil

From Latin filia.

file f (plural files)

1. girl
2. daughter

• fiu

• IPA^(key): /fiˈléː/
• Tonal orthography: filẹ̑
• Hyphenation: fi‧lé

filé m inan (genitive filêja, nominative plural filêji)

1. fillet

file

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of filar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of filar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of filar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of filar.