DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 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.