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Glite Dictionary
to file out

to file out

7 3.7
To leave a place in a line one after another
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : salir en fila
  • Relatives and friends filed out to them in a single line.
  • filed out of the courtroom
  • audience filed out
  • people filed out

And so those players were filing out and it was it was late and I was like, all right, let's do it.

Examples

  • I need everybody to file out of this office.

    Assassination of a High School President (2008)

  • The people of Kairn Telest begin to file out of their city.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Drop your weapons and file out one at a time.

    The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)

  • One by one, the men began to file out of their houses.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Start filing out, one by one.

    Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

  • The rest of the class filed out, leaving her and me.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • All rise, and the monks file out first, followed by the guests.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Three men and a woman filed out of the house, pretending not to notice him.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Everybody just file out in an orderly fashion.

    National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)

  • The teacher instructed the kids to file out of the classroom one by one.

Synonyms

to file
vsto file out
61 3.7

To move in a line one after another

is used for leaving a place in that orderly line

Antonyms

to stay
∞ 1.0

To remain in one place and not leave

to arrive
∞ 1.0

To reach a place, especially at the end of a journey

to file in
9 3.5

Enter a place by walking in a line behind other people

How Fast

to rush out
9 3.3
to pour out
18 2.9
to flow out
16 2.9
to file out
7 3.7
to drift away
15 4.5

Surface Forms

file out infinitive
filed out past
filed out past participle
filing out present participle
files out third person singular

Morphology

file + out

The meaning is directly built from the constituents: 'file' (to move in an orderly single file) plus 'out' (away from the interior) yields 'leave a place in an orderly line.' This motion/particle composition is compositional and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

File out comes from the idea that file means a single line of people and out means moving away. Imagine people walking in one row and leaving the room one by one, so to file out means 'to leave in an orderly line'.