filing cabinet
- noun
- /ˈfaɪlɪŋ ˈkæbɪnɪt/
- The auditor kept the data in a locked filing cabinet to ensure confidentiality.
- filing cabinet drawer
- metal filing cabinet
- office filing cabinet
Examples
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Carl opens the middle drawer of a metal filing cabinet and pulls out a folder.
Fiction book (2002) -
All the stuff you need should be in the filing cabinet beside my desk, the middle drawer.
Fiction book (2002) -
We keep our papers in the filing cabinet along the wall.
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You can look in the filing cabinet.
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By the way, do you lock your filing cabinets?
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Cleaning out the filing cabinets.
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The office is a small, chaotic room filled with old filing cabinets and ancient PCs.
Fiction book (1995) -
The auditor kept the data in a locked filing cabinet to ensure confidentiality.
-
Carl opens the middle drawer of a metal filing cabinet and pulls out a folder.
-
We keep our papers in the filing cabinet along the wall.
Synonyms
A piece of furniture with shelves or drawers for storing things
A piece of office furniture with drawers that hold papers
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a piece of office furniture with drawers for storing documents' is directly derivable from 'filing' (systematic placement of papers) + 'cabinet' (storage furniture). This simple noun–noun compound follows a transparent compositional pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Filing cabinet The name filing cabinet comes from putting files, paper folders with documents, into a cabinet, a box with drawers. Picture sliding papers into drawers to keep them safe and easy to find, and you see why it means 'a piece of furniture for storing and organizing documents'.