Note: The number of files in a company describes its width,
as the number of ranks does its depth; thus, 100 men in
``fours deep'' would be spoken of as 25 files in 4
ranks. --Farrow.
(b) 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.
(c) 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.
(d) A roll or list. ``A file of all the gentry.'' --Shak.
I would have my several courses and my dishes well
filed. --Beau. & Fl.
2. To bring before a court or legislative body by presenting
proper papers in a regular way; as, to file a petition or
bill. --Burrill.
3. (Law) 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 file a paper, on the part of a party, is to place
it in the official custody of the clerk. To file, on
the part of the clerk, is to indorse upon the paper
the date of its reception, and retain it in his
office, subject to inspection by whomsoever it may
concern. --Burrill.
{To file with}, to follow closely, as one soldier after
another in file; to keep pace.
My endeavors Have ever come too short of my desires,
Yet filed with my abilities. --Shak.
Note: 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.
2. Anything employed to smooth, polish, or rasp, literally or
figuratively.
Mock the nice touches of the critic's file.
--Akenside.
3. A shrewd or artful person. [Slang] --Fielding.
Will is an old file in spite of his smooth face.
--Thackeray.
{Bastard file}, {Cross file}, etc. See under {Bastard},
{Cross}, etc.
{Cross-cut file}, a file having two sets of teeth crossing
obliquely.
{File blank}, a steel blank shaped and ground ready for
cutting to form a file.
{File cutter}, a maker of files.
{Second-cut file}, a file having teeth of a grade next finer
than bastard.
{Single-cut file}, a file having only one set of parallel
teeth; a float.
{Smooth file}, a file having teeth so fine as to make an
almost smooth surface.
2. To smooth or polish as with a file. --Shak.
File your tongue to a little more courtesy. --Sir W.
Scott.
All his hairy breast with blood was filed. --Spenser.
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind. --Shak.