Definition

Noun: A piece of office furniture designed as a tall, box-shaped container with drawers, used for storing documents and papers in an organized manner, typically with a system of folders.

Usage

A filing cabinet is used to store physical documents, files, and folders systematically. It helps keep an office, home office, or workspace organized by allowing papers to be categorized and retrieved easily. It is a standard item in professional environments.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The important contracts are stored in the top drawer of the filing cabinet.
  • She spent the afternoon organizing the client folders in the metal filing cabinet.
  • Every office needs a reliable filing cabinet for record-keeping.

Advanced Usage

• "to be a walking filing cabinet": (idiomatic) To be a person who has a vast memory for facts and details, as if storing information like a cabinet.
  • Ask John about the project history; he's a walking filing cabinet.

Variants and Related Words

• File cabinet: A common alternative term with identical meaning.
• Filing system: The organized method of arranging documents, often implemented using a filing cabinet.
• Vertical file: A type of tall, narrow filing cabinet.
• Lateral file: A type of filing cabinet with wider drawers that open from the side.

Synonyms

• File: (in context, as in "a four-drawer file").
• Registry: (archaic, for a place where records are kept).
• Cabinet: (general term, but context specifies storage).

Related Phrases

• "To file away": To place a document into a filing system for storage.
  • Please file away these invoices in the filing cabinet.

Related Idioms

• "Buried in the filing cabinet": Referring to information that is forgotten, obscure, or difficult to find because it is stored away.
  • The answer to that old legal question is probably buried in the filing cabinet somewhere.

Noun

1. office furniture consisting of a container for keeping papers in order