cd

1. 1
   noun · CDcountable or uncountableinitialism

   Initialism of compact disc.

   The software is still sold on CD as well as by download.

   She burned a CD of her favorite songs for the road trip.

   Note

   The short form came with the format: in The New York Times in 1980, Allan Kozinn was already introducing Compact Discs, "CD for short", ahead of their launch. It is said as two letters, and the plural is CDs, with no apostrophe. Without an article it names the format (sold on CD); with one, a single disc.

2. 2
   noun · CDdatedmetonymicallycountable

   An album, especially one issued on compact disc, usually of music but occasionally of spoken word or other audio.

   The singer's latest CD leans more toward country than her earlier work.

   The comedian's second CD was recorded live over two nights in Chicago.

   Similaralbum, record

   Note

   The disc stands in for the music on it, so a singer's new CD is simply her new album. That use now sounds dated: album is the everyday word for the collection, whatever form it comes in, while the disc itself is still called a CD.

3. 3
   noun · CDcountableabbreviation

   Abbreviation of certificate of deposit.

   If you cash out the CD before it matures, the bank charges an early-withdrawal penalty.

   Rates on a one-year CD rose sharply last spring, so she locked in her savings.

   Note

   Banking talk uses it for the account itself (a one-year CD, cashing out the CD before it matures) and for the certificate that shows who owns it. Some newspapers put periods in it, as in Ann Carrns's headline "Rates on C.D.s Are Soaring"; elsewhere it is CD, plural CDs.

4. 4
   verbabbreviation

   Abbreviation of could.

   sry, cd u call me back in 10?

   we cd just meet at the library instead

   Note

   Texting cuts could down to two letters and keeps all its everyday jobs: a polite request (cd you call me?), a possibility (it cd rain), a suggestion (we cd meet later). It belongs in quick messages between friends; in email or anything formal, write could.

5. 5
   noun · CDcountableinitialism

   Initialism of creative director, the head of the creative department, for example at an advertising agency.

   The agency's CD signed off on the campaign just hours before launch.

   He was promoted to CD after his ads won two major awards.

   Note

   As a job title it behaves like others of its kind: it drops the article when it names the role (she was promoted to CD) and keeps it when it names the person (the agency's CD signed off). It is at home in advertising agencies and other creative businesses.

6. 6
   symbol · Cd

   The chemical symbol for the element cadmium, used in formulas, equations and lab results.

   Soil samples taken near the old smelter showed raised levels of Pb and Cd.

   Cd sits directly below zinc in the periodic table.

   Note

   Cadmium's symbol follows the pattern of two-letter element symbols, a capital and then a lower-case letter, and here the pattern does real work. In capitals the same letters usually mean the compact disc; in lower case they are the symbol for the candela, a unit of light. Copy the case exactly in a formula or a table of results: beside Pb, only Cd names the metal.

7. 7
   symbol

   The symbol used for the candela, the SI unit in which luminous intensity is measured.

   The spec sheet gives the flashlight's peak beam intensity as 12,000 cd.

   The engineers measured 85 cd straight in front of the lamp but far less at an angle.

   Note

   Here the letters are a unit symbol, and they follow the rules of the SI rather than those of ordinary abbreviations. The symbol stays lower case, takes no period, and never adds an s in the plural. A space separates it from the number in front of it, so a beam is rated at 12,000 cd, never 12,000cd or 12,000 cds.

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