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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Indian file en · NOUN

Etymology

Attested since the 18th century, as Native Americans traversed woods in this way.

Meanings

  1. (US, especially, uncommon) Single file.
    • He stopped abruptly, as if sorry he had said so much, and a moment later the party were walking in Indian file through the turnstile, Sir John Burney leading the way. 1913, Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger:
    • In about an hour they returned very much intoxicated, singing their dead war songs, and every warrior naked, painted black from head to foot: as they approached the house in Indian file, each one repeated the following words […] 1791, Voyages And Travels Of An Indian Interpreter And Trader, page 69: