file

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
file1

▶noun

• 1 a folder or box for keeping loose papers together and in order.

• 2 Computing a collection of data or programs stored under a single identifying name.

▶verb

• 1 place (a document) in a file.

  ■ submit (a legal document, application, or charge) to be officially placed on record.

• 2 (of a reporter) send (a story) to a newspaper or news organization.

– derivatives
filer noun,
filing noun.

– origin ME (as a verb meaning ‘string documents on a thread or wire’): from Fr. filer ‘to string’, fil ‘a thread’, both from L. filum ‘a thread’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
file2

▶noun

• 1 a line of people or things one behind another.

• 2 Military a small detachment of men.

• 3 Chess each of the eight rows of eight squares on a chessboard running away from the player towards the opponent. Compare with rank1 (sense 6 of the noun).

▶verb (of a group) walk one behind the other.

– origin C16: from Fr. file, from filer ‘to string’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
file3

▶noun a tool with a roughened surface or surfaces, used for smoothing or shaping a hard material. ▶verb smooth or shape with a file.

– derivatives
filer noun.

– origin OE fīl, of W. Gmc origin.