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Glite Dictionary
to file away

to file away

6 3.3
To place papers in order and keep them where you can find them later
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : archivar
  • After sorting through the documents, she decided to file away the important ones in a drawer.
  • filed away for future reference
  • filed this away for later
  • filing away information

I had a friend who was a composer and she had all sorts of sounds and they were filed away on tapes.

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Examples

  • Most of the answers didn't matter, but she filed away the few that did.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Some of those comics he bought then and carefully bagged and filed away are worth some serious money now.

    Blog text (13)

  • So you just file it away and you wait.

    Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986)

  • I have already read it twice and will file this one away to read yet again.

    Blog text (20)

  • Pat saw it all and filed it away in her memory.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • And the thing is, when you finally do finish it, it's just gonna get filed away on some shelf at the University Library. Then what?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • You've filed away a lot of data on him.

    Rollerball (1975)

  • Dr. Barzel never published this story, which he filed away in a drawer of his big black desk.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • A deeper look uncovered the huge amount of email filed away in folders within Outlook.

    Blog text (27)

  • They're legal fictions—pieces of paper filed away in a vault in some bank.

    Blog text (1)

Synonyms

to store
vsto file away
463 1.0

To put something away to use later

adds systematic ordering to make retrieval easy rather than just keeping
to put away
vsto file away
225 2.0

To place something in its usual place for storage

places items into an organized system aimed at later retrieval and use
to file
vsto file away
89 1.8

To put papers in order so they can be found later

organizes and stores both documents and other items for later use
to archive
vsto file away
30 3.9

To store documents or emails in a safe place for long-term keeping and later use

focuses on arranging items for easy finding rather than long term preservation
to stash away
vsto file away
  • Informal
13 4.9

Put something in a hidden place to use later

organizes and stores items openly so they can be found and used later
to store away
vsto file away
3 2.6

To put something in a safe place to use later

adds clear organization so stored items can be found and used later
to cache
vsto file away
1 4.6

To keep data in fast computer memory so it can be used quickly later

organizes items openly so they are easy to find rather than hidden
to reposit
vsto file away
1 9.9

To put something away in a safe place to keep it

emphasizes arranging and indexing items so they can be found later
to stack away
vsto file away
1 3.9

To put things in a safe place for later use

stores items with clear order and labels so they can be found later
to hive away
vsto file away
  • Informal
7.8

Put money or things aside in a safe place to use later

involves immediate organization so items are easy to locate when needed

Antonyms

to scatter
187 2.8

To spread small things like leaves or seeds over an area without order

to disorganize
  • US
4 4.5

To make something lose its order or structure

How Organized

to archive
30 3.9
to catalog
  • US
23 3.9
to file away
6 3.3
to store
463 1.0
to put away
225 2.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

file + away

The meaning 'to organize and store documents' is directly and compositionally derived from 'file' (to sort/place documents) combined with 'away' (into storage or reserved for later); the particle adds the sense of putting something aside. This verb+particle pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrasal verb file away comes from the simple image of putting papers into a file or drawer and tucking them away out of sight. So it means to 'store' or organize papers and items so you can find them later.