Add a glossary entry for file objects.
diff --git a/Doc/glossary.rst b/Doc/glossary.rst
index 8a36939..5374e73 100644
--- a/Doc/glossary.rst
+++ b/Doc/glossary.rst
@@ -184,6 +184,23 @@
A module written in C or C++, using Python's C API to interact with the core and
with user code.
+ file object
+ An object exposing a file-oriented API (with methods such as
+ :meth:`read()` or :meth:`write()`) to an underlying resource.
+ Depending on the way it was created, a file object can mediate access
+ to a real on-disk file or to another other type of storage or
+ communication device (for example standard input/output, in-memory
+ buffers, sockets, pipes, etc.). File objects are also called
+ :dfn:`file-like objects` or :dfn:`streams`.
+
+ There are actually three categories of file objects: raw binary
+ files, buffered binary files and text files. Their interfaces are
+ defined in the :mod:`io` module. The canonical way to create a
+ file object is by using the :func:`open` function.
+
+ file-like object
+ A synonym for :term:`file object`.
+
finder
An object that tries to find the :term:`loader` for a module. It must
implement a method named :meth:`find_module`. See :pep:`302` for
diff --git a/Doc/library/socket.rst b/Doc/library/socket.rst
index e3c9723..c061b04 100644
--- a/Doc/library/socket.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/socket.rst
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@
.. index:: single: I/O control; buffering
- Return a :dfn:`file object` associated with the socket. The exact
+ Return a :term:`file object` associated with the socket. The exact
returned type depends on the arguments given to :meth:`makefile`. These
arguments are interpreted the same way as by the built-in :func:`open`
function.
diff --git a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
index fc64b84..ac94ef2 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
@@ -781,9 +781,9 @@
single: stdout (in module sys)
single: stderr (in module sys)
- A file object represents an open file. Various shortcuts are available
- to create file objects: the :func:`open` built-in function, and also
- :func:`os.popen`, :func:`os.fdopen`, and the :meth:`makefile` method
+ A :term:`file object` represents an open file. Various shortcuts are
+ available to create file objects: the :func:`open` built-in function, and
+ also :func:`os.popen`, :func:`os.fdopen`, and the :meth:`makefile` method
of socket objects (and perhaps by other functions or methods provided
by extension modules).