# disk

Pronunciation: say "DISK" /dɪsk/

## Noun

1. A flat circular piece of metal, plastic, or other material, thin in relation to its width.
   - Simple: A thin, flat, round object shaped like a coin or plate.
   - _The craftsman polished a brass disk until it gleamed under the lamp._
   - _Each disk was stamped with a serial number along its rim._
2. Ellipsis of hard disk. — Ellipsis of hard disk.
   - Simple: Short form of hard disk. It stores a computer's files and programs.
   - _The computer would not start because the disk had failed._
   - _She backed up the entire disk before installing the upgrade._
3. Ellipsis of floppy disk. — Ellipsis of floppy disk.
   - Simple: Short form of floppy disk. It was an older way to store and carry computer files.
   - _He labeled each disk and stored them in a plastic case._
   - _Every disk held only a small amount of data by today's standards._
4. A cushioning pad of cartilage between adjacent vertebrae of the spine.
   - Simple: A soft pad between the bones of your spine that cushions them.
   - _The MRI showed a bulging disk pressing on a nerve root._
   - _Years of poor posture wore down the disk between her vertebrae._
5. Ellipsis of optical disk. For CDs and DVDs the usual spelling is disc. *(nonstandard)* — Ellipsis of optical disk.
   - Simple: Short form of optical disk. Used for a CD or DVD, though most people spell this disc.
   - _He inserted the disk and the installer launched automatically._
   - _A single disk could hold an entire encyclopedia._
6. A two-dimensional region consisting of all the points enclosed by a circle.
   - Simple: The flat, round space inside a circle, made up of every point within it.
   - _The integral was evaluated over the unit disk._
   - _Every point on the boundary circle lies just outside the open disk._
7. Any object having the flat, round shape of a disk.
   - Simple: Any object that looks like a flat, round plate.
   - _The sun sank as a glowing red disk behind the hills._
   - _From above, the still lake formed a perfect blue disk._
8. A ring- or cup-shaped swelling of a flower's receptacle or ovary that bears nectar and, less often, the stamens.
   - Simple: A ring- or cup-shaped part at the center of a flower that makes sweet nectar.
   - _Nectar pooled on the fleshy disk surrounding the ovary._
   - _In this species the stamens arise directly from the floral disk._
9. A farming implement fitted with rows of rotating concave blades that cut and turn the soil.
   - Simple: A farm tool with round metal blades that break up soil.
   - _He hitched the disk to the tractor and worked the stubble into the ground._
   - _After plowing, they ran a disk across the field to level it._

## Verb

10. To work soil by dragging a bladed harrow across it, cutting and leveling the ground.
   - Simple: To break up soil using a farm tool with round blades.
   - _Before sowing, they disk the soil to break up the heavy clods._
   - _Many growers disk their fields twice to bury crop residue._
11. To set a propeller's blades to zero pitch, turning them face-on to the airflow so they produce maximum drag.
   - Simple: To turn a propeller's blades flat against the wind so they make the most drag.
   - _To shorten the landing roll, pilots disk the propeller on touchdown._
   - _Flight crews disk the blades to add drag when they need to lose speed fast._

## Noun

12. A vinyl record played on a phonograph or gramophone to reproduce sound. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A round, flat record made of vinyl that plays music.
   - _The collector paid a fortune for a rare jazz disk from 1955._
   - _She lowered the needle gently onto the spinning disk._

## Origin

From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos), meaning a circular plate suited for hurling, which came from δικέω (dikéō, "to hurl, to launch"). It is a doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/disk (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).