Word.ws English Dictionary

Indian file

Indian file noun: single file.

Noun

Indian file

  1. (US, especially, uncommon) Single file.
    • In about an hour they returned very much intoxicated, singing their dead war songs, and every warrior naked, painted black from head to foot: as they approached the house in Indian file, each one repeated the following words […]1791, Voyages And Travels Of An Indian Interpreter And Trader, page 69
    • He stopped abruptly, as if sorry he had said so much, and a moment later the party were walking in Indian file through the turnstile, Sir John Burney leading the way.1913, Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger

Origin of Indian file

Attested since the 18th century, as Native Americans traversed woods in this way.

Questions about Indian file

What does Indian file mean?
Indian file means single file.
What part of speech is Indian file?
Indian file is a noun.

Words near Indian file in the dictionary

  1. Indian feather moss
  2. Indian feather mosses
  3. Indian fever
  4. Indian fig
  5. Indian figs
  6. Indian file
  7. Indian fire
  8. Indian fox
  9. Indian foxes
  10. Indian Game
  11. Indian gazelle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Indian file (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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