Meaning of 'file' (Webster Dictionary)
- An orderly succession; a line; a row
- A row of soldiers ranged one behind another; -- in
contradistinction to rank, which designates a row of soldiers standing
abreast; a number consisting the depth of a body of troops, which, in
the ordinary modern formation, consists of two men, the battalion
standing two deep, or in two ranks.
- An orderly collection of papers, arranged in sequence or
classified for preservation and reference; as, files of letters or of
newspapers; this mail brings English files to the 15th instant.
- The line, wire, or other contrivance, by which papers are put
and kept in order.
- A roll or list.
- Course of thought; thread of narration.
- A steel instrument, having cutting ridges or teeth, made by
indentation with a chisel, used for abrading or smoothing other
substances, as metals, wood, etc.
- Anything employed to smooth, polish, or rasp, literally or
figuratively.
- A shrewd or artful person.
- To march in a file or line, as soldiers, not abreast, but
one after another; -- generally with off.
- To set in order; to arrange, or lay away, esp. as papers
in a methodical manner for preservation and reverence; to place on
file; to insert in its proper place in an arranged body of papers.
- To bring before a court or legislative body by presenting
proper papers in a regular way; as, to file a petition or bill.
- To put upon the files or among the records of a court; to
note on (a paper) the fact date of its reception in court.
- To rub, smooth, or cut away, with a file; to sharpen with
a file; as, to file a saw or a tooth.
- To smooth or polish as with a file.
- To make foul; to defile.
Meaning of 'file' (Princeton's WordNet)
Meaning (1):
- record in a public office or in a court of law
Example in sentence:- file a complaint;
- file for divorce
Meaning (2):
- smooth with a file
Meaning (3):
- place in a container for keeping records
Meaning (4):
- proceed in line
Example in sentence:- The students filed into the classroom
Meaning (5):
- file a formal charge against
Example in sentence:- The suspect was charged with murdering his wife
Definition
[ n.]