Forms: 1 fiil, féol, 3 south. vile, (5 vyle), 4–7 fyle, 4– file. [OE. féol (Anglian fîl) = MDu., MLG. vîle (Du. vijl, LG. file), OHG. fîla, fîgila, fîhala (MHG. vîle, vîgel, mod.Ger. feile); ON. with anomalous initial consonant þél (mod.Icel. þjöl, MSw. fäl, MDa. fel; the mod. Sw. and Da. fil are prob. adoptions from LG. or HG.).
The OTeut. *fîhlâ is commonly referred to the Aryan pink, nasalized form of the root peik, to which the primary sense ‘to scratch, mark’ is assigned; cf. OSl. pĭsati to write, L. pingĕre to point. The OSl. (also Russian, Bohemian, etc.) pita file, saw, Lith. pela, pėlyczià file, have a remarkable similarity of sound to the Teut. word, but etymological affinity cannot be affirmed.]
1. A metal (usually steel) instrument, having one or more of its surfaces covered with numerous small raised cutting edges or teeth, for abrading, reducing, or smoothing surfaces. To bite, gnaw a file: fig. to make an attempt that can result only in vexatious failure (in allusion to the fable); similarly to lick a file (see quot. 1647).
a. 800. Corpus Gloss. (Sweet), 1234. Lima, fiil.
c. 1000. Riddles, lxx. 4 (Gr.). Ic … eom … laf fyres and feole.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xliv. 12. The yren smyth with the file wroȝte; in coles, and in hameres foormede it, and wroȝte in the arm of his strengthe.
1432. E. E. Wills (1882), 91. A vyle, and a forser with loke and kye.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, III. xii. She [the serpent] fond a fyle whiche she beganne to gnawe with her teethe.
1549. Compl. Scot., iii. 28. Ane file is ane instrument to file doune yrn.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. cxii.
| Like the mistaken Cat that lick’d the file | |
| And drawing bloud, uncessantly did toyl | |
| To suck that sweet, as if there Moses rock | |
| Had swet new milk. |
1649. J. H., Motion to Parl. Adv. Learn., 26. As soone as they have done licking of this file.
1697. Evelyn, Numismata, vi. 214. The track of the File is another Care, and which they are forc’d to use for the better smoothing of the Edges, which would else appear stain’d and slubber’d after they have been newly Cast.
1786. Beattie, Minstr., II. xiv.
| Myself betray’d and plunder’d all the while; | |
| So gnaw’d the viper the corroding file. |
1824. Tredgold, Ess. Cast Iron, 90. These bars yielded freely to the file.
1880. W. Cory, A Guide to Modern English History, I. 105. He [Ellenborough] bit at the file of English obstinacy, and broke his teeth.
b. fig. esp. with reference to the polish imparted by a file. (Cf. the use of L. lima.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 284. He is þi uile þet misseið þe oþer misdeð þe.
1621. B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorph., Wks. (Rtldg.), 628/1.
| From a tongue without a file, | |
| Heaps of phrases and no style. |
a. 1639. Wotton, in Reliq. Wotton. (1685), 341–2. If it shall pass the file of your Judgement, my poor Lines will have honour enough.
1749. Akenside, Odes, II. i.
| Or, though the frankness of my hardy style, | |
| Mock the nice touches of the critic’s file? |
† 2. = file-shell. Obs.–1
1705. J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXV. 1955. The fine blush Jamaica File.
3. slang. An artful, cunning, or shrewd person. Also, a man, ‘fellow,’ ‘cove.’
[Cf. Fr. slang lime sourde, lit. ‘a silent file,’ in similar sense.]
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., File, a person who has had a long course of experience in the arts of fraud … is termed an old file upon the town;… a man who is extremely cunning … is a deep file.
1819. E. S. Barrett, Metropolis, II. 65. You’re an old file. I know you well; you’re as deep as Garrick; but I’m up to you.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist (1850), 233. The Dodger … desired the jailer to communicate ‘the names of them two files as was on the bench.’
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lv. All the old files of the Ring were in it.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iv. (1871), 84. Old Blow-hard was a dry old file.
1877. Holderness Gloss., ‘A deep awd file.’
4. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attributive, as file-chisel, -cut, -dust, -handle, -smith, -stroke, -trade. b. objective, as file-cleaner, -cutter, -grinder, -maker; file-cutting, -finishing, -grinding, -nibbling, -tempering vbl. sbs.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-chisel. The cold chisel for rough files is about 3 inches long, 21/4 wide, and the angle of the edge is about 50°. Ibid., *File-cleaner. A scratch-brush of wire. A thin brass edge which acts as a rake. A card such as is used in carding cotton.
1888. Hasluck, The Mechanic’s Workshop Handybook, 85–6. This method of crossing the *file cuts from corner to corner is recommended in all cases.
1677–83. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 58. *File-cutters also use it to make their Chissels.
1890. Pall Mall G., 2 Sept., 4/2. The knife-grinders and file-cutters in Sheffield.
1819. Rees, Cycl., XIV. s.v. File. Mr. Nicholson, the publisher of the Philosophical Journal, we believe, invented the most likely machine for *file cutting, for which he took out a patent.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 519. The *file-dust which commeth of lead.
1876. Voyle, A Military Dictionary (ed. 3), 138/1. File…. When the file is rubbed over the material to be operated upon, it cuts or abrades little shavings or shreds, which, from their minuteness, are called file dust.
1883. Daily News, 25 June, 2/8. The *file-grinders still stand out.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-grinding Machine. A machine for surfacing forged or rolled file-blanks to bring them to form previous to cutting.
1888. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Eng., *File Handle.
1842. Bk. Trades, 230. Some *File-makers are in the habit of using the coal of burnt leather.
1869. Times, 1 Jan., 4. Mighty little will be done by such *file-nibbling or tinkering over law of entail.
1865. Pall Mall G., 19 Oct., 4. A meeting of the *Filesmiths’ Union.
1677. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 15. The Smooth file is to take out those cuts, or *file-stroaks, that the fine file made.
1888. Hasluck, The Mechanic’s Workshop Handybook, 84. The shape of the work can be readily observed by a slight lateral motion of the file, without stopping the file strokes.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-tempering. The files are drawn through beer-grounds, yeast, or other adhesive fluid, and then through common salt mixed with roasted and pounded cow’s hoof, the objects of which are to protect the teeth from the direct action of the fire and the oxidizing influence of the air.
1887. Daily News, 20 June, 2/6. In the *file trade there is apparently a slight change.
5. Special comb., as file-blank, a piece of soft steel, shaped and ground ready for cutting, to form a file; also attrib.; file-card, a card used for cleaning files; file-carrier (see quot.); † file-fast adv., ? securely; file-shell, a species of Pholas, so called from the roughness of its shell; file-stripper (see quot.). Also FILE-FISH.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-blank. A piece of soft steel, shaped and ground ready for cutting, to form a file.
1892. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., File-blank Forger, a workman who prepares the crude material for the file-cutter.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., 333/2. *File Card. A tool for cleaning the metallic dust out of files.
1888. Hasluck, The Mechanic’s Workshop Handybook, 86. These file cards are used in the same way as the scratch brushes—transversely across the file in the direction of its cuts—and though neither tool produces much effect yet both are often used.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-carrier. A tool-holder like the stock of a frame-saw.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 244. Þe ueond … wearð ibunden *uileueste mid te holie monnes beoden.
1752. Sir J. Hill, Hist. Anim., 177. The West Indian *File-shell.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *File-stripper. A machine in which a worn-out file, after being softened by heat and slow cooling, is smoothed to prepare it for being re-cut.
