disk

[ disk ]
See synonyms for disk on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any thin, flat, circular plate or object.

  2. any surface that is flat and round, or seemingly so: the disk of the sun.

  1. Computers. any of several types of media consisting of thin, round plates of plastic or metal, used for external storage: magnetic disk;hard disk;optical disk.

  2. Botany, Zoology. any of various roundish, flat structures or parts.

  3. Botany. (in the daisy and other composite plants) the central portion of the flower head, composed of tubular florets.

  4. any of the circular steel blades that form the working part of a disk harrow.

  5. Mathematics. the domain bounded by a circle.

  6. Archaic. discus.

verb (used with object)
  1. Informal. disc (def. 3).

  2. to cultivate (soil) with a disk harrow.

Origin of disk

1
First recorded in 1655–65; from Latin discus discus; cf. dish
  • Also disc (for defs. 1, 2, 4-9, 12) .

Other words from disk

  • disklike, adjective

Words that may be confused with disk

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use disk in a sentence

  • Over our heads the great blasting explosions went on, and I saw but three of the circling disks left to the defense of the city.

    Valley of the Croen | Lee Tarbell
  • A pistol for throwing small disks of paper or metal balls, can be easily made at almost no expense as shown in the sketch.

  • This morning she wore a black China silk, through the thin bodice of which was visible an under silk strewn with gold disks.

    The Butterfly House | Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

British Dictionary definitions for disk

disk

/ (dɪsk) /


noun
  1. a variant spelling (esp US and Canadian) of disc

  2. Also called: magnetic disk, hard disk computing a direct-access storage device consisting of a stack of plates coated with a magnetic layer, the whole assembly rotating rapidly as a single unit. Each surface has a read-write head that can move radially to read or write data on concentric tracks: Compare drum 1 (def. 9) See also floppy disk

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for disk

disk

    • : See magnetic disk.

    • : See optical disk.

  1. The round, flat center, consisting of many disk flowers, found in the inflorescences of many composite plants such as the daisy.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.