[f. FILE v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of FILE v.1 lit. and fig.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xiv. (1495), 568. The powdre that fallyth fro the yren wyth fylynge.
1557. Recorde, Whetst., B ij b. The filyng, sharpenyng, and quickenyng of the witte.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 53. An Instrument of great use for flat Filing.
1694–5. Pepys, Let., 10 Jan., in Academy (1890), 9 Aug., 111/1. Our Friend’s Learning (which indeed I haue great value for) wants a little fileing.
attrib. 1774. Foote, Cozeners, I. Wks. 1799, II. 147. The clipping and filing affair compels him to keep a little private at present.
2. concr. usually pl. One of the particles rubbed off by the action of the file.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. iv. (Tollem. MS.). The vilynge of golde take in mete.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Limaduras, the filings.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xxii. 165. When for medicall uses, wee take downe the filings of Iron or Steele, we must not conceive it passeth unaltered from us.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 79. The filings of the foremost hoofes given with water help the frettings in Horses.
1772. Priestley, in Franklin’s Wks. (1887), IV. 489. This air alone is reduced above one half by a mixture of iron filings and brimstone standing in it, whereas common air is diminished only about one fifth in the same process.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 259. Filings of copper are usually employed; and a retort, or a bottle having a tube, inserted into it is used.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), II. III. vii. 154. A nail which contained the minutest filings from the chains of St. Peter was an inestimable present to a patrician, or an ex-consul, or a barbaric king.
3. Comb., as filing-block, a block of wood grooved to hold small rods or bars while being filed; filing-machine (see quot.); filing-pin, a piece of hard wood used in silver manufacture to file against.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 843/1. *Filing-block. A block of apple, pear, or boxwood, gripped in the jaws of a vise, and having grooves of varying depth in which small rods, bars, or wires may be laid to be filed. *Filing-machine. 1. A machine used in the mint to reduce the weight of coin planchets, when above the standard…. 2. A machine in which a file is mounted as a jig-saw; or to reciprocate in a manner similar to that of a file in the hands of a workman.
