file away

English

Verb

file away (third-person singular simple present files away, present participle filing away, simple past and past participle filed away)

1. (transitive) To store in a file; to get rid of a document by placing it in a file or other storage.

   Would you help me file away these reports?

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To cause oneself to remember (something); to avoid expressing a feeling, fact or idea until an appropriate time.

   His words hurt, but I'll file away my emotions until I can get my revenge.

3. (intransitive) To move away in a file.

   The soldiers filed way at a quick pace.

   • 2011 September 14, Barbara Yates Rothwell, The Boy from the Hulks, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 230:

     Then, in a moment of sheer grief, he touched Yebby’s tousled hair for the last time and stood back, watching silently as the men filed away, out of the clearing towards the settlement.