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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Single-cut file

Single \Sin"gle\, a. [L. singulus, a dim. from the root in simplex simple; cf. OE. & OF. sengle, fr. L. singulus. See Simple, and cf. Singular.]

  1. One only, as distinguished from more than one; consisting of one alone; individual; separate; as, a single star.

    No single man is born with a right of controlling the opinions of all the rest.
    --Pope.

  2. Alone; having no companion.

    Who single hast maintained, Against revolted multitudes, the cause Of truth.
    --Milton.

  3. Hence, unmarried; as, a single man or woman.

    Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.
    --Shak.

    Single chose to live, and shunned to wed.
    --Dryden.

  4. Not doubled, twisted together, or combined with others; as, a single thread; a single strand of a rope.

  5. Performed by one person, or one on each side; as, a single combat.

    These shifts refuted, answer thy appellant, . . . Who now defles thee thrice ti single fight.
    --Milton.

  6. Uncompounded; pure; unmixed.

    Simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to compound.
    --I. Watts.

  7. Not deceitful or artful; honest; sincere.

    I speak it with a single heart.
    --Shak.

  8. Simple; not wise; weak; silly. [Obs.]

    He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.
    --Beau. & Fl.

    Single ale, Single beer, or Single drink, small ale, etc., as contrasted with double ale, etc., which is stronger. [Obs.]
    --Nares.

    Single bill (Law), a written engagement, generally under seal, for the payment of money, without a penalty.
    --Burril.

    Single court (Lawn Tennis), a court laid out for only two players.

    Single-cut file. See the Note under 4th File.

    Single entry. See under Bookkeeping.

    Single file. See under 1st File.

    Single flower (Bot.), a flower with but one set of petals, as a wild rose.

    Single knot. See Illust. under Knot.

    Single whip (Naut.), a single rope running through a fixed block.

Single-cut file

File \File\ (f[imac]l), n. [AS. fe['o]l; akin to D. viji, OHG. f[=i]la, f[=i]hala, G. feile, Sw. fil, Dan. fiil, cf. Icel. [thorn][=e]l, Russ. pila, and Skr. pi[,c] 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.

    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.