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disc

/dɪsk/
/dɪsk/
IPA guide

Other forms: discs

A disc is an object that's round and flat. It might be a toy that you throw, like a Frisbee, or it might be a compact disc with digitally encoded music.

Disc is often used interchangeably with disk. A disc galaxy, or disk galaxy, is a vast collection of stars that appears flat and circular through a telescope. The discs, or disks, in your spine are circular pads of cartilage that cushion the vertebrae. But the disc spelling is more commonly used for a phonograph record on which music is inscribed and played back on a record player. And a disc jockey entertains people by playing recorded music, originally that which was recorded on discs.

Definitions of disc
  1. noun
    a flat circular plate
    synonyms: disk
    see moresee less
    types:
    acetate disk, phonograph recording disk
    a disk coated with cellulose acetate
    brake disk
    a disk or plate that is fixed to the wheel; pressure is applied to it by the brake pads
    deadeye
    (nautical) a round hardwood disk with holes and a grooved perimeter used to tighten a shroud
    diaphragm
    electro-acoustic transducer that vibrates to receive or produce sound waves
    discus, saucer
    a disk used in throwing competitions
    Frisbee
    a light, plastic disk about 10 inches in diameter; propelled with a flip of the wrist for recreation or competition
    coin blank, planchet
    a flat metal disk ready for stamping as a coin
    hockey puck, puck
    a vulcanized rubber disk 3 inches in diameter that is used instead of a ball in ice hockey
    token
    a metal or plastic disk that can be redeemed or used in designated slot machines
    subway token
    a token that is used to pay for entry to the subway system
    type of:
    circle, round
    any circular or rotating mechanism
    plate
    a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic
  2. noun
    something with a round shape resembling a flat circular plate
    synonyms: disk, saucer
    see moresee less
    types:
    intervertebral disc, intervertebral disk
    a fibrocartilaginous disc serving as a cushion between all of the vertebrae of the spinal column (except between the first two)
    dot, point
    a very small circular shape
    type of:
    round shape
    a shape that is curved and without sharp angles
  3. noun
    a flat circular plate used for recording and playing back sound
    see moresee less
    types:
    L-P, LP
    a long-playing phonograph record; designed to be played at 33.3 rpm
    78, seventy-eight
    a shellac based phonograph record that played at 78 revolutions per minute
    type of:
    audio, audio recording, sound recording
    a recording of acoustic signals
  4. noun
    (computer science) a memory device consisting of a flat plate on which information is stored
    see moresee less
    types:
    diskette, floppy, floppy disk
    a small plastic magnetic disk enclosed in a stiff envelope with a radial slit; used to store data or programs for a microcomputer
    fixed disk, hard disc, hard disk
    a rigid magnetic disk mounted permanently in a drive unit
    removable disk
    a hard disk that can be removed from the disk drive; removal prevents unauthorized use
    type of:
    memory device, storage device
    a device that preserves information for retrieval
Pronunciation
US
/dɪsk/
UK
/dɪsk/
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