safe edgen.
/ˈseɪf ˌɛdʒ/, U.S. /ˈseɪf ˈɛdʒ/ 1. A file with a smooth edge; (also) the smooth edge itself.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > shaping tools or equipment > file > [noun] > other files
jack file1678
knife-file1683
pillar file1683
using-file1683
carlet1688
grail1688
screw-rasp1688
riffler1797
quannet1809
safe edge1815
cross-cut1831
saw-file1846
shouldering file1846
warding file1846
found1874
side file1874
cant-filea1877
pin bone1936
1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 24 That sort of file called the safe-edge..is the best for every purpose to which its form admits of its being applied.
1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. xxviii. § i. 821 Some files have one or more edges that are left uncut, and these are known as safe-edges, because such edges are not liable to act upon those parts of the work against which they are allowed to rub.
1886 Priced Vocab. Stores H. M. Service (War Office) iii. 106 (table) Files, rough—Flat, Half round, Pillar, Round, Safe edge, Square, Three-square.
1903 Internat. Libr. Technol. 122 xx. §63. 43 When the corner is to be extremely sharp,..a flat file may be ground off on one side, to form a safe edge.
1971 Tools & their Uses (U.S. Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel) (1973) i. 22 One edge has no teeth and is known as a safe edge.
2007 P. Stensel Design in Life xiv. 181/2 A hand file has parallel sides with one safe edge.
2. Photography. An opaque border round a negative.
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1870 N. K. Cherrill in Year-bk. Photogr. 38 There must always be what is technically called a ‘safe edge’; that is, the edges of the piece of tissue must print white.
1891 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 66 The negative to be printed from, should have an opaque border, called a safe edge, about a quarter of an inch wide made around it.
1917 P. L. Anderson Pict. Photogr. ii. xiv. 218 If the ink takes on the print but fails to adhere to the safe-edge the soaking is probably correct.
2000 L. Blacklow New Dimensions in Photo Processes (ed. 3) iii. xi. 154/1 Soak only one matrix at a time, and keep it totally submerged by placing coins or pebbles on the safe edges.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1825 H. W. Reveley in Techn. Repository 7 xxx. 112 It is then shaped, by means of a watchmaker's safe-edge smooth file.
1893 Rep. Comm. Man. Training & Industr. Educ. (Mass. State Govt.) 151 File the brad heads to a point with the safe edge file.
1906 J. K. Barton Mech. Processes viii. 193 Safe-edge files are those with one edge left smooth in order that a surface not intended to be filed may be protected.
2002 A. Rae Choosing & Using Hand Tools 136/2 You can get safe-edge files in all sizes and shapes, which have at least one edge without teeth.
Derivatives
ˈsafe-edged adj.
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1835 Daily Cleveland (Ohio) Herald 30 May Smith's Files, all sizes... Flat, smooth, safe edged and round.
1903 Northwestern Dental Jrnl. Dec. 143 I use at this point a safe-edged..root facer. If this instrument is sharp it will do the work quickly and well.
2007 S. D. Hughes Double Guns & Custom Gunsmithing xii. 113 The only other tools he used were safe-edged files and small scrapers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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