rat-tail file
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of rat-tail file
First recorded in 1840–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
You can bend a rat-tail file or ice pick in a vise to fashion a tool.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was a good two-handed saw in the shed and Hiram found a good rat-tail file.
From Hiram the Young Farmer by Todd, Burbank L.
She is about as sentimental as a rat-tail file.
From A Fascinating Traitor An Anglo-Indian Story by Savage, Richard
In this way you get a groove of square section, that is in some respects preferable to the round one cut out by means of the rat-tail file.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.
The Butcher, heavy with wonderment, obeyed mechanically—and P. Walton drew a rat-tail file from his pocket.
From The Night Operator by Packard, Frank L. (Frank Lucius)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
