Sin·gle a.
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.
File n.
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]
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.