noun, verb, filed, fil⋅ing.| 1. | a folder, cabinet, or other container in which papers, letters, etc., are arranged in convenient order for storage or reference. |
| 2. | a collection of papers, records, etc., arranged in convenient order: to make a file for a new account. |
| 3. | Computers. a collection of related data or program records stored on some input/output or auxiliary storage medium: This program's main purpose is to update the customer master file. |
| 4. | a line of persons or things arranged one behind another (distinguished from rank ). |
| 5. | Military.
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| 6. | one of the vertical lines of squares on a chessboard. |
| 7. | a list or roll. |
| 8. | a string or wire on which papers are strung for preservation and reference. |
| 9. | to place in a file. |
| 10. | to arrange (papers, records, etc.) in convenient order for storage or reference. |
| 11. | Journalism.
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| 12. | to march in a file or line, one after another, as soldiers: The parade filed past endlessly. |
| 13. | to make application: to file for a civil-service job. |
| 14. | on file, arranged in order for convenient reference; in a file: The names are on file in the office. |

noun, verb, filed, fil⋅ing.| 1. | a long, narrow tool of steel or other metal having a series of ridges or points on its surfaces for reducing or smoothing surfaces of metal, wood, etc. |
| 2. | a small, similar tool for trimming and cleaning fingernails; nail file. |
| 3. | British Slang. a cunning, shrewd, or artful person. |
| 4. | to reduce, smooth, or remove with or as if with a file. |

(pro)file
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| file (fīl) Pronunciation Key
A collection of related data or program records stored as a unit with a single name. Files are the basic units that a computer works with in storing and retrieving data. |