File (fīl), n. [AS. feól; akin to D. viji, OHG. fīla, fīhala, G. feile, Sw. fil, Dan. fiil, cf. Icel. þēl, Russ. pila, and Skr. piç to cut out, adorn; perh. akin to E. paint.] 1. 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.
☞ 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. 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.