File | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

File, n.

noun

n. [Fr. file, row, Pr., Sp., Pg., & It. fila, from Lat. filum, thread.]

Sense 1. An orderly succession; a line; a row; as, (a.) (Mil.) A row of soldiers ranged behind one another; a number constituting the depth of a body of troops; as, in rank and file. (b.) An orderly collection of papers, arranged for preservation and ready reference; also, the line, wire, or other contrivance, by which papers are put and kept in order.

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

(c.) A roll or list.

I have a file Of all the gentry. Shak.

Sense 2. Regular course or succession of thought; thread of narration. [Obs.]

Let me resume the file of my narration. Wotton.

On file, preserved in an orderly collection. — Rank and file (Mil.), the body of private soldiers composing an army.

File, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. FILED; p. pr. & vb. n. FILING.] 1. To set in order; to arrange, especially as papers in a methodical manner for preservation and reference; to place on file; to insert in its proper place in an arranged body of papers. I would have my several courses and my dishes well-filed. Beau. & Fl.

To bring before a court or legislative body by presenting proper papers in a regular way; as, to file a petition or bill.
(Law.) To put upon the files or among the records of a court; to note on a paper the fact and date of its reception in court.

File, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [Fr. filer. See supra.] (Mil.) To march in a file or line, as soldiers, not abreast, but one after another; — generally with off.

To file with, to follow closely, as one soldier after another in file.

My endeavors Have ever come too short of my desires, Yet filed with my abilities. Shak.

File, n.

noun

n. [A-S. feol, O. H. Ger. fila, M. H. Ger. vile, N. H. Ger. feile, D. vyl, Sw. & Dan. fil, Icel. thiól, allied to Lith. pela, piela, Pol. pilnik.]

Sense 1. A steel instrument, having the surface covered with sharp-edged furrows or teeth, used for abrading or smoothing other substances, as metals, wood, &c.

☞ A file differs from a rasp in having the furrows made by straight cuts of a chisel, either single or crossed, while the rasp has coarse, single teeth, raised by the pyramidal end of a triangular punch.

Sense 2. Any thing employed to smooth or polish.

Mock the nice touches of the critic's file. Akenside.

File, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [A-S. feolian, O. H. Ger. filōn, M. H. Ger. vilen, N. H. Ger. feilen. Cf. ÁFFILE. See supra.]

To rub, smooth, or cut away, with a file, or as with a file; to polish; as, to file a saw, a tooth, &c.
To smooth; to polish; to improve.

File your tongue to a little more courtesy. W. Scott.

File, v. t.

verbtransitive

[A-S. fȳlan. See DEFILE.] To make foul; to defile. [Obs.] All his hairy breast with blood was filed. Spencer. For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind. Shak.