fire

n 1: the event of something burning (often destructive); "they

lost everything in the fire"

2: the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy; "hold

your fire until you can see the whites of their eyes";

"they retreated in the face of withering enemy fire" [syn:

{firing}]

3: the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing

heat and light and (often) smoke; "fire was one of our

ancestors' first discoveries" [syn: {flame}, {flaming}]

4: a fireplace in which a fire is burning; "they sat by the

fire and talked"

5: (archaic) once thought to be one of four elements composing

the universe

6: feelings of great warmth and intensity; "he spoke with great

ardor" [syn: {ardor}, {ardour}, {fervor}, {fervour}, {fervency},

{fervidness}]

7: a severe trial; "he went through fire and damnation"

8: intense adverse criticism; "Clinton directed his fire at

Jesse Helms" [syn: {attack}, {flak}, {blast}]

v 1: start firing a weapon [syn: {open fire}]

2: cause to go off; "fire a gun"; "fire a bullet" [syn: {discharge}]

3: Bake in a kiln; "fire pottery"

4: terminate the employment of; "The boss fired his secretary

today" [syn: {give notice}, {can}, {dismiss}, {give the

axe}, {send away}, {sack}, {force out}, {terminate}] [ant:

{hire}]

5: go off or discharge; "The gun fired" [syn: {discharge}, {go

off}]

6: drive out or away by or as if by fire; "The soldiers were

fired"; "Surrender fires the cold skepticism"

7: call forth; of emotions, feelings, and responses; "arouse

pity"; "raise a smile"; "evoke sympathy" [syn: {arouse}, {elicit},

{enkindle}, {kindle}, {evoke}, {raise}, {provoke}]

8: destroy by fire; "They burned the house and his diaries"

[syn: {burn}, {burn down}]

9: provide with fuel; "Oil fires the furnace" [syn: {fuel}]

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)