fill

n 1: a quantity sufficient to satisfy; "he ate his fill of

potatoes"; " she had heard her fill of gossip"

2: any material that fills a space or container; "there was not

enough fill for the trench" [syn: {filling}]

v 1: make full; "fill a container," "fill the child with pride"

[syn: {fill up}, {make full}] [ant: {empty}]

2: become full; "The pool slowly filled with water"; "The

theater filled up slowly" [syn: {fill up}] [ant: {empty}]

3: occupy the whole of; "The liquid fills the container" [syn:

{occupy}]

4: assume, as of positions or roles; "She took the job as

director of development" [syn: {take}]

5: fill or meet a want or need [syn: {meet}, {satisfy}, {fulfill},

{fulfil}]

6: appoint someone to (a position or a job)

7: eat until one is sated; "He filled up on turkey" [syn: {fill

up}, {stuff}, {jam}, {cram}]

8: fill to satisfaction; "I am sated" [syn: {satiate}, {sate},

{replete}]

9: plug with a substance; "fill a cavity"

10: fill or stop up; "Can you close the cracks with caulking?"

[syn: {close}, {fill up}]

file

An element of data storage in a {file system}.

The history of computing is rich in varied kinds of files and

{file systems}, whether ornate (e.g., {Macintosh file system}

for a well-known case) or deficient (e.g., many simple

pre-1980s file systems don't allow {directories}).

However, the prototypical file has these characteristics:

▫ It is a single sequence of bytes (but consider {Macintosh}

{resource forks}).

▫ It has a finite length, unlike, e.g. a {Unix} {device}.

▫ It is stored in a {non-volatile storage} medium (but see

{ramdrive}).

▫ It exists (nominally) in a {directory}.

▫ It has a name that it can be referred to by in file

operations, possibly in combination with its {path}.

Additionally, a file system may associate other information

with a file, such as {permission} bits or other {file

attributes}; timestamps for file creation, last revision, and

last access; revision numbers (a` la VMS), and other kinds of

{magic}.

(1997-04-08)