discdiskn.
/dɪsk/, U.S. /dɪsk/ I. General uses.
1. A discus; the game or sport of throwing the discus. Now rare.The more usual word is now discus (see discus n. 1).
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > athletics > [noun] > specific athletic sports other than running > throwing weight, shot, or ball > weight, shot, or discus
stonec1300
dishc1384
discus1581
disc1665
putting stone1716
weight1865
shot1881
1665 G. Havers & J. Davies tr. Another Coll. Philos. Conf. French Virtuosi clxix. 253 The last kinde of Exercises which relate to sport are..the Disk or Coiting, which seems common to them [sc. the ancients] with us; and the Ball.
1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 941 In empty Air their sportive Jav'lins throw, Or whirl the Disk.
a1727 I. Newton Short. Chron. 1st Memory in Chronol. Anc. Kingdoms Amended (1728) 36 The Disc was one of the five games called the Quinquertium.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. ii. 948 His soldiers hurled the disk or bent the bow.
1835 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece I. viii. 329 He could run, leap, wrestle, hurl the disk.
1876 E. Dowden Poems 67 In manage of the steed Or shooting the swift disc.
1906 Times 16 May 17/2 In the case of the disc or quoit throwing, the competition was divided into two styles, the ‘free’ and the ‘Greek’.
2010 North Shore (Brit. Columbia) News (Nexis) 18 Apr. 7 Nudity was all very well when the athletes were sweatily scampering and throwing discs every which-way under a Grecian sun.
2.
a. The apparently flat circular form that a celestial object (typically the sun, the moon, or a planet) presents to the eye, either unaided or in a telescope. Usually with possessive or of.
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the world > the universe > heavenly body > [noun] > disc
discus1659
disc1665
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 3 He hath..at length seen them emerge out of his Disk.
1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 807 An Inclination of the Cometick Disk to the Sun.
1715 W. Derham Astro-theol. v. iv. 123 Jupiter..hath manifestly..his Belts and Spots darker than the rest of his Disch.
1797 W. Godwin Enquirer ii. xi. 364 The spots discoverable in the disk of the sun.
1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) iv. 34 The eclipses [of the satellites] take place close to the disc of Jupiter.
1867 G. F. Chambers Descr. Astron. Voc. 798 Egress..is the passing off, after a transit of, a minor planet from the disc of the Sun or of a satellite from the disc of its primary.
1893 R. S. Ball Story of Sun 39 Mars at the time..shows a large and brilliant disk.
1972 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 82 427 A transit of the shadow of Titan across Saturn's disk.
2004 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) May 76/1 Venus's disk touches the sun's from first the outside and then the inside.
b. Something resembling a discus in shape, being round and flat relative to its diameter.
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the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [noun] > circularity > a circle > a disc > disc-shaped object
paten1600
quoita1614
disc1701
1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra i. v. §5 The Chrystal of the Eye, which in a Fish, is a Ball; in any Land-Animal, is a Disk [printed Dislk] or Bowle.
1770 J. Mills Ess. Weather vii. 48 Rarefying vapours assume the shape of an oblate disk.
1846 Hampshire Advertiser 19 Sept. 6/4 A flat circular disc is formed out of the yolk around the future bird.
1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) iv. §265 About the Arctic disc, therefore, there should be a whirl.
1865 G. Grote Plato II. xxiii. 169 Whether the earth was a disk or a sphere.
1942 C. Barrett On Wallaby vii. 152 There were..bricks of sugar, bubbly discs of native bread, and piles of vegetables.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 19 July (Travel section) 6/2 Lyon's most typical is St.-Marcellin, a small, soft disc of cow's milk that I've had many times.
3.
a. Any round flat area on a surface, esp. one demarcated by colour, texture, light, etc.; a circle, a spot.
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1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 315 The surface of the Lead appearing..bright and shining like a luminous disc [Fr. disque lumineux].
1773 Encycl. Brit. I. 277/2 The coloured circle or disk is formed by the skin, the inner surface of which sustains a great number of small glandular molleculae.
1804 Repertory of Arts 2nd Ser. 5 147 The disk of recession I term that part of the bottom of the vessel which is abandoned by the water. This disk presents in the preceding experiment a perfect dryness.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) xxi. 359 It presents the appearance of a luminous disc.
1955 East & West 6 36 The Japanese flag—a red disk, symbol of the sun, on a field of white.
1993 C. O'Gaora Giving Ground 67 The brass buttons on their tunics danced in the sunlight, spraying discs of shimmering light across the road.
b. Nautical. A circular marking on the side of a seagoing ship, having a horizontal line through the centre denoting the draught level to which the ship may be loaded. Cf. Plimsoll's pancake at plimsoll n. 1.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > side(s) of vessel > [noun] > waterline > mark to show waterline
nail1644
watermark1754
disc1875
Plimsoll line1877
Plimsoll's mark1877
Plimsoll's pancake1877
1875 Act 38 & 39 Vict. c. 88 §6 (1)..The owner of every British ship shall..mark upon each of her sides amidships..a circular disc, twelve inches in diameter, with a horizontal line eighteen inches in length, drawn through its centre. (2) The centre of this disc shall indicate the maximum load-line in salt water.
1910 Times 16 Dec. 3/4 [The Waratah] passed her Board of Trade survey on October 27, 1908, and was assigned a load line, the centre of the disc being 8ft, 1in. below the spar deck.
2006 B. Barrass & D. R. Derrett Ship Stability for Masters & Mates (ed. 6) v. 38 Figure 5.3 shows a ship's load line marks. The centre of the disc is at a distance below the deck line equal to the ship's statutory freeboard.
4. † b. poetic. A shield. Obsolete. rare.
a. A thin circular plate of any material.
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the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [noun] > circularity > a circle > a disc
round1615
flat1732
disc1780
discoid1828
1780 Philos. Trans. 1779 (Royal Soc.) 69 661 I thought it would be an advantage to substitute a round plate, or disk, of glass, to a globe or cylinder.
1803 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 10 26 Volta constructed a pile made up of disks of different metals with layers of cloth interposed.
1869 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times (ed. 2) viii. 271 A small oval disk of white sandstone.
1872 J. Ruskin Eagle's Nest §224 The shield [is] a disk of leather, iron fronted.
1932 Times 17 Oct. 9/5 The time is registered by a number on a rotating disk shown on the front of the watch.
1983 Which? Dec. 577/1 All five [processors] came with discs for slicing, shredding or grating.
2001 Rec. Art Museum (Princeton Univ.) 60 19/2 The Princeton mirror..is a relatively large disk of cast bronze.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > shield > [noun]
shieldc825
boardOE
randOE
targe1297
rowelc1330
aegisc1425
scutcheon1600
disc1791
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xi. 528 Ulysses' oval disk [Gk. ἀσπίδα] he smote. Through his bright disk [Gk. ἀσπίδος] the stormy weapon flew.
c. Railways. A coloured disc used as a signal or forming the principal part of one; (also) a disc signal.
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society > communication > indication > signalling > [noun] > thing or apparatus used for
signal1687
disc1856
signaller1872
shape1879
1856 Engineer 535/1 The disc, a form in very general use: sometimes one is used for all the signals, red on one side, green on the other, and with the edge presented to the driver clear; sometimes, however, a separate disc (on the same pillar) is used for the green.
1900 Railway News 15 Dec. 865/1 The ‘stop’ signals at the stations consisted of ordinary ground-disks.
1905 Railway Mag. Nov. 440/2 Ground discs, despite the fact that they occupy a somewhat unobtrusive position in the economy of signalling, play a very important part during shunting operations.
2002 A. J. Bianculli Amer. Railroad in Nineteenth Cent. IV. 149/2 Of the three types of automatic signals generally used at that time—semaphore, revolving banner, and disc—the disc signal was the poorest.
d. = identification disc n. at identification n. Compounds 2.
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society > communication > indication > that which identifies or distinguishes > personal identification > [noun] > paper or disc
card1749
papers1796
legitimation1870
dog tag1882
identity papers1889
identity certificate1891
identification tag1893
identity card1900
identification1906
identity disc1907
identification disc1914
disca1918
meat ticket1919
warrant card1920
carte d'identité1923
ID1937
ID card1937
reference book1952
a1918 W. Owen Poems (1931) 104 Let my inscription be this soldier's disc.
1998 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 28 Feb. 58 Until now soldiers' discs carried little more than name, rank, blood group and religion.
2004 B. Cane It made you think of Home iv. 90 Each disk had the same personal information stamped into it: rank, family name, initials, regimental number, some reference to the man's religious affiliation, and the unit to which the soldier belonged.
e. In plural. One of the four suits in some packs of tarot cards, corresponding to the suit of coins or pentacles in other packs. Cf. coin n. Additions, money n. 5.Apparently popularized as a name for the suit by the occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), who designed a divinatory tarot deck in association with the artist Lady Frieda Harris (1877–1962).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card or cards > [noun] > tarot card
terrestrial triumph1563
taroc1611
tarocco1768
tarot1872
discs1931
1931 R. R. Merton tr. P. D. Ouspensky New Model of Universe v. 207 This makes 56 cards divided into four suits, two black and two red, named as follows: Wands (clubs), Cups (hearts), Swords (spades), and Pentacles or discs (diamonds).
1944 A. Crowley Bk. Thoth i. ii. 19 The four suits are named as follows: ‘Wands’..; ‘Cups’..; ‘Swords’..; and ‘Disks’ (‘Coins’, or ‘Pantacles’).
1988 G. Ziegler Tarot 158 The Ace of Disks mirrors your readiness to live a life that is inwardly and outwardly rich.
2007 Advertiser (Adelaide) (Nexis) 23 Nov. 110 The traditional Italian Tarot suits are swords, batons, coins and cups; in modern Tarot decks however..the coins suit is often called pentacles or disks.
f. = parking disc n. at parking n. Compounds 2.
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1970 Oxf. Mail 13 July 6 Whilst there is adequate warning, on entry into the city, that disc parking is operative it does seem ridiculous that an ample supply of discs is not readily available from garages, stores and traffic wardens.
2008 Irish Independent 28 Nov. (Property section) 1/4 There is off-street parking for three cars and a residents' disc for the road.
5. Any of various types of thin circular plate on which sound may be recorded; (originally) = record n.1 8a; (now chiefly) = compact disc at compact adj.1 3d. Also: a piece of music or other audio recording on a record, compact disc, etc. Also: (as a mass noun) such discs as a recording medium (chiefly in on disc).
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society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [noun] > record or disc
phonograph record1878
record1878
disc1879
gramophone record1888
title1908
platter1926
phonodisc1929
release1932
wax1932
plate1935
waxing1936
audio disc1944
cut1949
sounds1955
twelve-inch1976
vinyl1976
1879 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 423/2 Messrs. Preece and Stroh exhibited..a new form of diaphragm, which intensifies the loudness and removes some of the imperfections of the present disk of the phonograph.
1888 Leisure Hour 209/1 A disc about eleven inches in diameter can, it is said, contain four minutes' talk.
1929 Sunday Disp. 20 Jan. 16 A fine disc by his orchestra.
1938 Motion Pict. Sound Engin. (Acad. Motion Pict. Arts & Sci.) v. 69 The electrical energy necessary for recording either on film or on disc.
1951 Ann. Reg. 1950 386 A whole classical symphony could be recorded on the two sides of a 12-inch disc without any break in the course of the movements.
1962 Melody Maker 7 July 4 His discs have sold in millions all over the globe... He doesn't make hit discs today.
1968 Listener 27 June 845/3 The only complete opera-in-English available on disc in this country.
1987 G. McComb & J. Cook Compact Disc Player Maintenance & Repair vi. 102/2 To realize the full benefit of CD technology, the disc must be reasonably cared for.
2009 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 13 Nov. e3 Other selections in the first set came from the group's bestselling disc.
6. Computing. Now chiefly in form disk (see note below). A data storage device in the form of a disc which can be rapidly and automatically rotated so as to allow access to different parts of the surface, where data is stored digitally. Also: a disk drive; (more widely) any self-contained storage device. Also: (as a mass noun) such discs as a storage medium (chiefly in on disk).Data is typically stored either by means of a magnetizable surface (as in a hard disk) or by optical methods (as in a CD-ROM).Some writers have used the spelling disk for magnetic ones (‘hard disk’, ‘floppy disk’), and disc for optical ones (‘compact disc’, ‘laser disc’).floppy, hard, laser, optical disc, etc.: see the first element.
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > floppy disk
disc1947
floppy disc1972
diskette1973
floppy1974
microfloppy1977
1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids Computation 2 229 The program of the Symposium was as follows:..4. ‘Magnetic and phosphor coated disks’ by Dr. B. L. Moore.
1952 Electr. Engin. (U.S.) Aug. 745/2 When the heads are in position, the disk is rotated past them while information, in the form of coded magnetic pulses, is recorded or read out.
1964 T. W. McRae Impact Computers on Accounting i. 8 48 disks were stored one above the other.
1972 Computer Jrnl. 15 290/1 Engineering information files set up on disc by Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd..form the data base for a fully integrated production control system.
1982 What's New in Computing Nov. 12/4 Back up for the discs is provided on a tape streamer, tape cartridge or floppy.
1990 G. Gilder Life after Television (1992) iii. 63 A computer with a hard-disk memory, together with a compact disc read-only memory.
2006 Wired Oct. 196/1 The little arm reading the disks can't move fast enough to handle the onrush of seeks.
2012 Computeractive (Nexis) 1 Mar. The disk can be lifted free of the laptop by pulling the white plastic tab.
II. Botany, Zoology, and Anatomy.
7. Botany. A round and flattened part in a plant.
a. A circular, often slightly domed, cluster of closely-packed tubular florets in the flower head of plants of the family Asteraceae ( Compositae), forming either the whole head (as in the tansy), or the central part of it with peripheral ray florets (as in the sunflower).
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1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner II. v. 632 At the Top of the Stalks grow radiated Flowers, whose Disk is compos'd of several Flourishes.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. vi. 69 In the radiate flowers, the disk is often of one colour and the ray of another.
1807 J. E. Smith Introd. Physiol. & Systematical Bot. 454 Polygamia frustranea, florets of the disk..perfect or united; those of the margin neuter.
1872 D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. (new ed.) ii. 195 In Daisy..the inner florets are much smaller, regular, tubular, and yellow, constituting the disk.
1906 Garden 17 Feb. 97 These [flowers] are single, with a golden bronze disc, and ray florets of a pretty mauve shade.
1936 W. Stiles Introd. Princ. Plant Physiol. xxv. 523 In the daisy (Bellis) this is effected by curling of the ligulate ray florets inwards over the disk.
2005 P. M. Browse Heligan xi. 161 The flowers..are about three inches in diameter with a brown disc and orange-yellow ray florets.
b. The flat surface of an organ (in early use esp. of a leaf), as distinguished from the margin. Now rare, except with reference to the central portion of the lip of an orchid flower.
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1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Leaf Perfoliate leaf, that whose disk is pierced by the stalk.
1836 Gardener’s Mag. Aug. 390 The leaves have petioles nearly one inch long, and disks that are lanceolate, tapered to both ends.
1875 C. Darwin Insectivorous Plants x. 246 The four leaves..with their tentacles pointing..to the two little masses of the phosphate on their discs.
1908 W. Dallimore Holly, Yew & Box 93 The leaves are similar in size and shape to those of angustifolia but the disk is motley green, and the margin creamy white.
1998 E. McDonald 100 Orchids for Amer. Gardener 118 In the cultivar D. pulcherrima ‘Frank’, the flowers are uniformly vivid dark pink with white lines on the disc of the lip.
c. One of the circular suckers that form on the tendrils of certain climbing plants, as the Virginia creeper.
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1822 A. T. Thomson Lect. Elements Bot. xi. 658 A viscous fluid, which is furnished by small papillæ on the under surface of the disk or flattened knob.
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. iii. iv. 781 Some tendrils, strikingly those of the Virginian creeper and Bignonia capreolata, have the..power of developing broad discs at the end of their branches.
1915 Garden Mag. Sept. 31/3 The closely allied Boston Ivy..has the free ends of the tendril flattened into discs which firmly adhere to walls and rocks.
1943 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 70 436 Poison ivy climbs by means of rootlets whereas the Virginia creeper has tendrils which are usually terminated by enlarged adhesive discs.
2009 S. T. Runkel & A. F. Bull Wildflowers Iowa Woodlands (ed. 2) 209 These disks cling tenaciously to wood, bark, stone, or brick.
d. An enlargement of the torus or receptacle of a flower, below or around the pistil.
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1825 P. W. Watson Dendrologia Britannica II. 88 (table) Disk..(gynophore), hemispheric, alveolate above, and 5 cicatrices round the lower part.
1882 R. Bentley Man. Bot. (ed. 4) 257 The disk is developed in a variety of forms; thus, in the Orange and Rue..it forms a fleshy ring surrounding the base of the pistil.
1920 J. H. Pemberton Roses (ed. 2) ii. 15 The pistils in some species are surrounded by a ring or disc.
2006 I. R. Castro Guide Families Common Flowering Plants Philippines 34 The pistil is green and compact on a central disk and the ovary is superior.
e. A disc-shaped marking or bordered pit in the wood cells of certain trees, esp. gymnosperms. Cf. discigerous adj. Now rare.
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the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > cell > parts of cell > other parts
disc1835
crystalloid1863
autoplast1884
plastid1885
granum1894
primary endosperm nucleus1897
chromoplast1902
phragmoplast1904
plasmodesma1905
phragmosome1940
1835 G. T. Burnett Outl. Bot. I. 487 The fascicles contain only one kind of tissue, consisting of..cellules, all alike, analogous in their form to those which compose the wood of dicotyledons, but differing by their large glandular disks, which have been mistaken for pores.
1887 Proc. 35th Meeting Amer. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 220 The ordinary coniferous (so-called) tissue is then distinctly seen, the disks appearing like small hexagonal spots.
1904 J. R. Green Man. Bot. (ed. 3) I. ii. i. 283 (caption) Bordered pits of the wood-cells of the Pine, with a single row of discs on each cell.
f. A disc-shaped hymenium of a discomycetous fungus; = discocarp n. (b) at disco- comb. form .
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the world > plants > particular plants > fungi > [noun] > parts of > reproductive parts
capsule1693
perithecium1800
aecidium1821
hymenium1830
pseudoperidium1832
pseudoperithecium1832
disc1842
trichidium1842
spicule1843
sporophore1849
stylospore1851
pycnide1856
cyst1857
pycnidium1857
basidium1858
cystidium1858
basidiospore1859
conidium1861
pollinarium1861
gonosphere1865
hymenophorum1866
spicula1866
teleutospore1866
promycelium1867
gonosphaerium1873
hymenophore1874
paracyst1874
sterigma1874
pollinodium1875
scolecite1875
uredospore1875
metuloid1879
operculum1879
uredo1879
aecidiospore1880
pycnidiospore1880
uredo-fruit1882
chlamydospore1884
teleutosorus1884
fruitcake1885
ascocarp1887
periplasm1887
pycnospore1887
pyrenocarp1887
macrostylospore1894
autobasidium1895
oidium1895
zygophore1904
aeciospore1905
aecium1905
pycniospore1905
teliospore1905
telium1905
uredinium1905
uredosorus1905
fruit-body1912
sporodochium1913
probasidium1916
fruiting body1918
pycnium1926
holobasidium1928
protoperithecium1937
uredium1937
1842 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 9 234 Discomycetes, Fr. This family..is characterized by a sort of hymenium, at first nucleiform, then expanded into a solid disc.
1896 Irish Naturalist 5 10 The next fungus is also a Peziza..and is a much prettier object, its blood-red disc being surrounded with a circlet of brown bristles.
2006 Bryologist 109 418/2 Ascomata..rounded, with a flat, black hymenial disc.
8. Zoology. A roundish and flattened part or structure in or on the outside of an animal body.
a. In various invertebrate animals with radial symmetry, as echinoderms, coelenterates, and bryozoans: the central rounded and flattened part that contains the opening of the mouth and is usually surrounded by rays, tentacles, or arms.So called from its resemblance to the disc and rays of a composite flower.
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1762 Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 82 Out of the top part, or the disk of the polype, grow the feelers.
1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. II. §1013 The disk seems almost absent, the animal being, as it were, all rays.
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 707 The mouth in the Phylactolaemata..lies in the centre of a disc, or lophophore, either circular or horse-shoe shaped, along the edges of which are arranged..a row of tentacles.
1940 G. S. Carter Gen. Zool. Invertebr. xxi. 425 Some sea-anemones divide by constriction across the middle of the disc.
1953 H. J. Buchanan-Wollaston in C. E. Raven Nat. Relig. & Christian Theol. 217 On placing these on the discs of the anemones, they were immediately rejected, without any attempt on the part of the anemones to swallow them.
2001 G. W. Rouse & F. Pleijel Polychaetes iii. 34/1 Others induce the host to form galls or cysts around them, on the arms, the pinnules of the arms, or the oral disc.
b. = facial disc n. at facial adj. and n. Compounds.
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the world > animals > birds > order Strigiformes or owl > [noun] > parts of
operculum1713
disc1769
ear tab1851
plumicorn1883
1769 J. Berkenhout Outl. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland I. 15 Disk round the eyes ash colour with brown spots.
1822 J. Fleming Philos. Zool. II. 236 The disc of feathers around the eye is less perfect than in the preceding genera.
2003 J. R. Duncan Owls of World i. 23 (caption) Stiff feathers at the rear edge of the ear opening provide structural support to the disk.
c. In insects: the central area of a dorsal sclerite or of the elytra; (also) the central region of a wing.
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1772 W. Curtis tr. A. Blad Fundamenta Entomologiæ p. vi The Disk, or Middle.
1893 E. A. Butler Our Househ. Insects 179 The chief difference is in the præbrachial nervure (the third on the disc of the wing towards the tip).
1940 R. A. Staig Fabrician Types Insects Hunterian Coll.: Coleoptera Pt. II 69 On each side of the scutellar area the convex disc is interrupted by an oblique furrow.
2004 Coleopterists Bull. 58 87 Elytral margin broad.., slightly concave, more coarsely punctate than elytral disc, often transparent.
d. In various invertebrates: a flat, roundish part or base by which the animal attaches itself to a substrate or moves across it; as the basal plate of a sea anemone, the foot of a gastropod mollusc, etc.
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1797 Monthly Mag. Sept. 220 Underneath appears a fleshy disc, analogous to that of slugs, and other animals of the order called Gastropodes.
1822 J. Fleming Philos. Zool. II. 419 The second group..execute progressive motion by means of crawling along the surface of objects, the body resting on a ventral disc, termed a foot.
1974 W. H. Thorpe Animal Nature & Human Nature iii. 80 When the pedal disc is firmly attached, the tentacles and oral disc let go.
2012 D. A. Warrell et al. Oxf. Textbk. Med.: Infection viii. 736/2 (caption) The dorsal surfaces of two trophozoites are visible (D), and the ventral adhesive disc of the other trophozoite is shown.
e. The part of a bivalve shell between the margin and the umbo.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > bivalves > parts of
beard1649
hinge1704
cardo1725
palpus1803
disc1810
ligament1816
palp1835
tooth1847
hinge-tooth1851
beak1854
curtain1854
talon1854
resilium1895
hinge-ligament1909
1810 Encycl. Brit. VI. 396/2 (gloss.) The disk (discus), signifies the convex centre of the valves, which is usually situated between the belly of the shell and its limb.
1918 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 31 5 Shell of a pale green color, translucent, with more or less evident paler rays, the umbo darker than the rest of the disk.
2001 R. F. McMahon & A. Bogan in J. H. Thorp & A. P. Covich Ecol. & Classif. N. Amer. Freshwater Invertebr. (ed. 2) xi. 403 Shell with spines on the umbo and down to the disk of the shell.
9. Anatomy and Zoology. Any of various flattened circular structures inside the body.
a. More fully intervertebral disc. A rounded plate of fibrocartilage lying between the bodies (centra) of adjacent vertebrae, consisting of an outer fibrous ring (the annulus fibrosus) and an inner gelatinous mass (the nucleus pulposus).slipped disc: see slipped adj.1 2.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > cartilage > cartilage of specific parts > [noun] > of vertebra
disc1870
1829 N. Amer. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 7 177 The ligamentous intervertebral discs approach to the nature of the fibrous tissue, and do not possess the properties of real cartilage.
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life Introd. p. xliii All the other vertebrae have their centra articulated together by fibro-cartilaginous discs.
1913 E. R. Bundy Text-bk. Anat. & Physiol. for Nurses (ed. 2) iii. 35 The bodies [of the vertebrae] are composed of spongy bone, placed one above the other and held together by discs of fibrocartilage between them.
1991 She May 70/3 Neither can help pain caused by disease, a severely prolapsed disc or advanced osteoporosis.
2002 P. Thomas What works, what Doesn't xvi. 220 In bi-peds..the discs and joints of the spine have become weight bearing, but they were originally intended to be slung underneath a horizontal back.
b. = blood disc n. at blood n. Compounds 5. Now disused.
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the world > life > the body > vascular system > blood > components of blood > blood corpuscle or plate > [noun]
blood corpuscle1838
disc1839
blood cell1841
corpuscle1845
haematoblast1876
blood plate1882
plaquette1883
blood plaque1884
plaque1884
blood platelet1888
platelet1888
haemad1891
thrombocyte1893
blood disc1902
blast cell1947
1839 J. Davy Res., Anat. & Physiol. II. iv. 180 The colouring matter was dissolved, the forms of the discs were changed, and a darkening effect was produced.
1844 W. B. Carpenter Animal Physiol. i. 35 In the blood of all the higher animals, we also find a vast number of minute discs, sometimes round, sometimes oval.
1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 329/2 The blood fluid is often provided with hæmoglobiniferous disks.
1906 G. A. Buckmaster Morphol. Normal & Pathol. Blood i. 15 In the blood of normal animals the discs show both polychromasia and haemoglobin-inclusions.
c. A transverse segment of a striated muscle fibre (after certain experimental treatments). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > parts of muscle > [noun] > other parts
disc1840
muscle fibre1857
Krause1873
A band1939
1840 W. Bowman in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 130 470 The plates, of which the striæ are the edges or sections, may be detached entire, as discs, presenting no evidence of being formed of segments of fibrillæ.
1894 M. P. Jacobi in H. R. Bigelow Internat. Syst. Electro-therapeutics Q22 Each fibre..consists of superposed alternating strata, the disks of protoplasm (disks of Bowman), and narrow layers of fluid between them.
1912 Quain's Elements Anat. (ed. 11) II. i. 177 Under certain circumstances the fibres show a tendency..to break up into transverse plates or discs.
1978 L. D. Peachey in M. Morad Biophysical Aspects Cardiac Muscle 193 Bowman described the separation of adjacent striations into disks, saying that this is one form of natural cleavage of the muscle fiber.
d. = optic disc n. at optic adj. and n. Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > sight organ > parts of sight organ > [noun] > other parts
whitec1390
crystalline humoura1398
crystalloida1398
crystalline?a1425
eyeball1575
eyeglassa1616
crystalline lens1654
crystal1657
lens1719
membranula1821
zonule1828
angle1830
disc1861
1861 J. W. Hulke Pract. Treat. Use Ophthalmoscope iii. iii. 37 The hollow is deep and begins suddenly at the periphery of the disc.
1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 5 Aug. 297/1 The patient's visual loss was complete, her optic nerve heads were mildly edematous and small areas of retinal hemorrhages and infarction approximated each disc.
2005 W. W. Campbell DeJong's Neurologic Exam. (ed. 6) xiii. 144/2 The disc is paler than normal and more sharply demarcated from the surrounding retina.
Compounds
C1.
a. attributive.
(a) General attributive, esp. with the sense ‘consisting of, comprising, or having the form of a disc or discs’.
disc coupling n.
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1847 Engineer & Machinist's Assistant Contents 3 The Segmental Disc Coupling.
1965 US Patent 3,291,406 3/1 The disc coupling includes a coupling shaft upon which is freely rotatably mounted a belt pulley or disc.
2012 M. P. Boyce Gas Turbine Engin. Handbk. (ed. 4) xxi. 880 Disc couplings should be checked to ensure there are no cracks in the discs or connecting shaft.
disc crank n.
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1837 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 10 195 This shaft carries two fly wheels j, j; two eccentrics k 1, and k 2, and also two disc crank plates v, v.
1870 Engineering 22 July 57/2 Unlike the other engines tried, it has a disc crank, the fly-wheel shaft being straight.
2006 S. Bray Model Marine Steam xii. 112/1 Two methods of operating the ram are employed, the first uses a disk crank similar to that used in oscillating pumps.
disc electrode n.
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1849 Mechanics' Mag. 20 Jan. 92/1 The disc electrodes are mounted on suitable axes supported in the extremities of a kind of horse-shoe frame.
1884 F. Krohn tr. G. Glaser de Cew Magneto- & Dynamo-electr. Machines 104 A kind of voltaic battery..the disk-electrodes of which were rendered active by polarisation.
2008 W. Plieth Electrochem. Materials Sci. v. 165 Substances generated in an electrode process on the disc electrode are transported by the electrolyte convection.
disc fan n.
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1855 Catal. Wks. Exhib. Brit. Sect., Paris Universal Exhib. 15/2 Ventilator for mines, buildings, and ships, also a noiseless disc fan blowing machine.
1903 Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 8/2 The air..is drawn out by a disc-fan.
2006 Your Dream Bathroom (House Beautiful) 17/2 [The] toilet..adds functional fun to potty training with a bidet-like washlet, a seat warmer and a disk fan.
(b) In the names of agricultural machines with disc-shaped soil-cultivating elements.See also disc harrow n. at Compounds 3.
disc cultivator n.
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1871 U.S. Patent 114,707 1/1 I..have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Revolving-Disk Harrows and Disk Cultivators.
1894 Irrigation Age Jan. 34/1 I have found one of the best tools that we have yet used to be the disc cultivator.
2003 B. Wolf & G. H. Snyder Sustainable Soils ix. 241 Sweeps added to heavy-duty disk cultivators rebuild the ridges at layby.
disc drill n.
ΚΠ
1871 Engineering 4 Aug. 81/3 Messrs. Benjamin Reid and Co., exhibited..their patent sixteen-row fixed coulter, Aberdeen prize disc drill, which sows 4 in. apart.
1907 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Agric. I. 207 The disc drill is also used very extensively in many sections of the country.
2005 R. Kubik Implements Small-scale Farm v. 47/2 On disc drills, check that the discs are not excessively worn or bent.
disc plough n.
ΚΠ
1871 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 2nd Ser. 7 578 The..‘disc’ plough, as it is commonly called..bringing up soil that probably never saw the sun before.
1907 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Agric. I. 385 The revolving disc harrow or plow, with its concave discs moving obliquely through the soil.
2006 Orion Nov. 72/1 He was still pulling a disk plow across the moist, untamped earth.
b. Botany. In sense 7.
disc floret n.
ΚΠ
1815 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory ii. 38 The sensible qualities of the flower reside chiefly in the disc florets.
1945 J. M. Fogg Weeds 165 The flowers themselves may be of two kinds..tubular disk flowers..and flattened ray flowers, which usually surround the disk, and are often wrongly called ‘petals’.
2004 Times 4 Sept. 29/1 A skirt of broad petals (strictly, ray florets) flutters beneath a boss of disc florets that turns from cinnamon to mahogany.
disc flower n.
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1831 Pastime of Learning xvi. 207 The flowers..having their rays ligulate, and the disk flowers tubular.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 185 Asteroideæ..Disk-flowers 2-sexual.
1954 C. J. Hylander Macmillan Wild Flower Bk. 453 The conical receptacle..bears disk-flowers which are purplish in colour.
2006 Plant Ecol. 187 42/2 If the head was flowering, we further recorded the stage of the disk flowers.
disc lobe n.
ΚΠ
1853 W. Darlington Flora Cestrica (ed. 3) 253 Stamens inserted between the disk-lobes.
1913 J. F. Rock Indigenous Trees Hawaiian Islands 127 Disc lobes short and broad.
2008 Kew Bull. 63 56/1 Petals..often hidden under disc lobes in pistillate flowers.
C2. Objective, instrumental, and parasynthetic with present and past participles.
disc-adjusting adj.
ΚΠ
1879 Subject-matter Index Patents 1877 75/2 Disc apparatus for disaggregating caked flour, &c. Disc-adjusting gear for same.
1912 Auto-Motor Jrnl. 7 Dec. 1475 Wheels seem much as before, but we noticed an increased number of disc-adjusting hubs.
disc-bearing adj.
ΚΠ
1838 Synopsis Contents Brit. Mus. (ed. 37) 286 On the exterior of the chest is an emblem of stability..flanked by disk-bearing uræi.
2012 G. Micela in A. Moitinho & J. Alves Star Clusters Era of Large Surv. 174 The X-ray membership criterion applied to NGC 6611, has allowed us to..identify disk-bearing and disk-less YSOs in the whole Eagle Nebula.
disc-capped adj.
ΚΠ
1928 Daily Express 17 Aug. 2/7 The system of milk distribution by means of disc-capped bottles.
2006 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 31 Aug. 14 He points to a metal ‘benchmark’... It's a disc-capped steel rod.
disc cutting n.
ΚΠ
1864 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1862: Arts & Manuf. I. 240 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (37th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 52) X The cutters are of two kinds—one with disk-cutting edges cutting in a plane parallel to that of the revolutions of the wheel.
1944 Billboard 7 Oct. 21/2 What dough there is around for disk cutting goes to the Tatums.
2009 M. Talbot-Smith Audio Engineer's Ref. Bk. v. 29/1 Few recording studios now offer disk cutting facilities.
disc editing n.
ΚΠ
1963 Compatible Time-sharing Syst. (M.I.T. Computation Center) iii. 26 The user can also..generate other disk editor control cards to be entered into the disk editing process.
2007 M. McQuade & P. Hammar in R. Prigozy & W. Raubicheck Going My Way xiv. 153 Because of the awkward disc editing techniques..Crosby still feared that he would be compelled to revert to live broadcasts.
disc recording n.
ΚΠ
1929 Photoplay Apr. 110/2 The play-back is only possible from disc recording,..as in film recording the film must be developed before the sound can be heard.
1950 Jrnl. University Film Producers Assoc. 3 i. 15 Magnetic recording passed into obscurity and disc recording forged ahead.
1996 H. G. Cragon Memory Syst. & Pipelined Processors v. 263 The areal density of disk recording increased from 0.002 Mbits/in2 in 1957 to 10 Mbits/in2in 1980.
2004 R. K. Mobley Maintenance Fund. (ed. 2) 408 The distance between the peaks of two successive grooves on a disk recording.
disc-shaped adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [adjective] > circular > having shape of disc
discous1706
discoid1729
disc-like1787
disc-shaped1801
disciform1807
discoidal1808
discal1839
discose1989
1801 W. Turton tr. C. Linnaeus Gen. Syst. Nature IV. 633 Disk-shaped, somewhat pedunculate and roughish, with marginal fasciculate stars.
1924 L. C. Uren Textbk. Petroleum Production Engin. vi. 152 The Reed roller bit..is equipped with eight disc-shaped cutters.
2002 Econ. Times (India) (Nexis) 30 Apr. 52 disc-shaped beads of shell.
C3. † disc owl n. Obsolete rare a barn owl. [Rendering German Schleiereule barn owl (16th cent.; < Schleier facial disc of a barn owl, specific sense development of Schleier veil (see skleir n.) + Eule owl n.), in allusion to the barn owl's prominent facial disc.]
disc-anvil n. (see quot.)
ΚΠ
1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. Disk Anvil, a strengthening plate or reinforce placed inside the head of a cartridge to support the impact of the striking pin which explodes the fulminate.
disc area n. (a) the circular area swept out by a revolving propeller, airscrew, etc.; (b) the area of a disc or on a disc.
ΚΠ
1852–3 Pract. Mechanic's Jrnl. 5 128/1 The latter possessed..a midship section smaller for the displacement, although slightly larger (3.09 to 3.07) for the screw's disc area.
1935 Flying Mag. Feb. 118/3 Excessive tip speed may create a vortex action which will restrict the effective disc area of the propeller.
1964 Proc. AFIPS Conf. 26 353/1 A separate dictionary is maintained for each disk area.
1972 Pop. Sci. Nov. 72/2 The maximum power that a wind turbine can get from the wind passing through the disk area of its blades is 57 percent of wind energy.
2012 F. Bandello et al. in F. Bandello & M. B. Parodi Surg. Retina 59 (caption) Proliferation elsewhere at least 1/2 disc area in size and associated with vitreous or preretinal hemorrhage.
disc armature n. Electrical Engineering an armature wound so that its coils lie in the form of a disc.
ΚΠ
1875 U.S. Patent 164,696 4/1 The apparatus..consisting in the electro-magnet R, the disk-armature w2 [etc.]
1921 D. C. Jackson & J. P. Jackson Alternating Currents & Alternating Current Machinery (new ed.) ii. 90 No machines of importance are at the present day being actually manufactured with disk armatures.
2006 T. Bartelt Industr. Control Electronics (ed. 3) vii. 145 (caption) A thin disc armature made of fiberglass with copper conductors placed on each side.
disc barrow n. Archaeology a tumulus typically consisting of one or more small, low, round mounds set within a circular or oval ditched enclosure.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > grave or burial-place > [noun] > mound > of specific shape
long barrow1724
round barrow1768
bell-barrow1812
bowl-barrow1812
disc barrow1871
horned cairn1877
ridge barrow1927
1871 Archæologia 43 301 Stukeley..shows a tumulus of the bell form with a bank outside the inclosing ditch, as in the disc-barrow.
1895 A. J. Evans in Folk-lore Mar. 15 Like the disk-barrows it is surrounded by a ditch and bank.
1997 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 19 Nov. 5 The mound near Frome is a disc barrow, dating back up to 2,000 years.
disc brake n. Mechanics a wheel brake which operates by pushing stationary brake pads against a disc attached to the wheel, thereby slowing its rotation.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > devices to retard or stop motion > brake or braking apparatus > types of
handbrake1841
rubber1850
air brake1857
disc brake1865
power brake1865
hydraulic brake1874
vacuum-brake1875
rim brake1876
drum brake1882
sand brakea1884
calliper brake1904
rheostatic brake1920
callipers1972
1865 U.S. Patent 46,714 2/2 Sliding on the end N1 of the screw N is a disk-brake, u3, covered with leather.
1904 M. Maclean Mod. Electr. Pract. IV. 241 Electric disc brake.—This is a brake that is not very largely in use [on trams] in this country.
1950 Autocar 15 Dec. 1257 At the moment the disc brake, like most innovations, is more expensive than the system which it seems to supplant.
2003 A. Sayle Overtaken 131 You can get real quality machines, disc brakes, full suspension, stuff like that.
disc-braked adj. equipped with disc brakes.
ΚΠ
1950 Official Proc. N.Y. Railroad Club 19 Oct. 256 No question had ever been raised as to signal shunting capabilities of disc braked cars, despite the millions of miles of disc braked operation throughout the country.
1959 G. Freeman Jack would be Gentleman x. 221 Prosser with his disc-braked car is able to leave his braking that little bit longer.
2009 D. Thompson Railway Noise & Vibration ii. 17 On corrugated track disc-braked and block-braked stock thus have similar noise levels.
disc brooch n. chiefly Archaeology a brooch formed of or comprising a disc, or discs; spec. a brooch of a late Roman or Anglo-Saxon type, typically formed of a flat, circular plate (often highly decorated) with a pin at the back.
ΚΠ
1877 Minutes Proc. Session 1874–5 p. ii, in Proc. Royal Irish Acad.: Sci. 1875–7 2 Two Bronze Disk Brooches.
1913 E. T. Leeds Archaeol. Anglo-Saxon Settlem. iii. 63 Among the brooches..not a few are of flat penannular form,..plain disc brooches and the small square- and cross-headed type.
2001 Treasure Hunting Feb. 71 (caption) Roman disc brooch with triskele design.
disc bud n. Zoology rare each of the incipient progeny produced asexually by budding from the oral disc in coral polyps and similar invertebrates.
ΚΠ
1846 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Zoophytes iv. §54 The disk-buds, like the lateral, probably proceed from one of the same lamellæ.
1872 R. I. Murchison Siluria (ed. 5) x. 220 (caption) A single cup, with its marginal disk-buds attached.
1956 H. Wells & P. H. Wells Gen. Biol. ix. 151/1 Plumatella inhabits fresh-water lakes, being colonial and tubular. Asexual disk buds (statoblasts) are unique, resisting desiccation.
disc-budding n. Zoology rare asexual reproduction of coral polyps and similar invertebrates by fission across or at the margin of the oral disc.
ΚΠ
1846 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Zoophytes iv. §53 In disk-budding, a new mouth opens in the disk.
1907 T. W. Vaughan Recent Madreporaria Hawaiian Islands & Laysan 104 The polyps increase by fissiparity, and near the margin by disk-budding.
disc camera n. Photography a camera in which images are recorded round the edge of a disc inside the camera.
ΚΠ
1916 Pop. Mech. Mag. 328/1 Novel disk camera worn under spy's clothing... The instrument is housed in a disk-shaped metal case, less than an inch in thickness.
1933 U.S. Patent 1,902,278 1/1 An object of the invention is to provide an improved disc film or record holder for use with disc cameras or projectors.
1965 Impact of Sci. on Society 15 151 René Barthélémy constructed..in 1932 a portable disc camera utilizable in a diffused light and rendering possible the first open-air telecast.
2002 G. H. Gaynor Innovation Design ii. 36 The disk camera concept was not only innovative but provided many benefits in the cycle from purchase of film to delivery of prints.
disc clutch n. Mechanics a clutch in which the engaging surfaces are discs; = plate clutch n. at plate n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > parts which provide power > [noun] > clutches
bayonet1798
clutch1814
gland1825
friction-clutch1842
disc clutch1859
shifter1869
cone-clutch1874
clutch-box1875
jaw clutch1893
plate clutch1906
band clutch1910
single-plate clutch1926
1859 Mechanic's Mag. 11 Mar. p. vii./3 (advt.) The company possess five patents relating to this frictional system, including..a system of disc clutches and clutch movements.
1912 Motor Boating (N.Y.) Mar. 56/2 The 1912 models of these engines have several improved features one of which is a specially designed reverse gear and disc clutch on the four and six cylinder types.
2003 J. Grist & M. Gidley Karting vi. 108 For a disc clutch you will need a special spacer if mounting outboard.
disc controller n. (usually in form disk controller) Computing a device or system that controls the transfer of data to and from a disk.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > disk controller
disc controller1965
1965 Proc. AFIPS Conf. 27 i. 232/2 There are two central processors (CPU), two memory modules, two general input/output controllers (GIOC), two disc controllers, and two disc units.
2010 D. Karp Windows 7 Annoyances vi. 384 Possible causes include bad sectors, a virus, bad memory, or physical damage to the motherboard or disk controller.
disc cutter n. (a) Engineering a cutter in which the cutting part is in the form of a rotating disc or discs; (b) an instrument for cutting out circles from a sheet; (c) a machine for cutting the groove in a disc in the process of recording.
ΚΠ
1832 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. Conjoined Ser. 1 23 This disc cutter may be of hardened steel.
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 261/1 Disk cutter, an instrument for cutting circles of thin glass.
1918 Amer. Machinist 27 June 1123/1 The center of the oscillation being the center of the semicircular disk cutter.
1947 Res. Guidance Devices & Reading Machines for Blind (National Acad. Sci. (U.S.)) C-3 The signal was recorded on the film only when the disc cutter was actually cutting.
2008 New Yorker 19 May 66/2 Benedetti went out and bought a Wells Gardner 78-r.p.m. portable disk-cutter.
2012 C. Frenzel in M. Fowler et al. North Amer. Tunneling 2012 Proc. i. iv. 163 Estimating a single value for rate of penetration and disc cutter wear is not sufficient.
disc drive n. a mechanism for rotating a disc; (Computing, usually in form disk drive) a storage device having a means for rotating a disk and a mechanism for reading data to it and from it; spec. a hard drive.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > disk drive
disc drive1952
drive1963
computer disk1966
hard disk drive1974
hard drive1982
1952 Electr. Engin. (U.S.) Aug. 747/1 In the small machine, the disk drive is somewhat different.
1971 New Scientist 18 Mar. 614/2 Enhancements to the little System 3 computer were..announced, including..double-fast Dolphin disc-drives.
1974 Boating (N.Y.) Jan. 276/1 Babbitt Missile Co... Flexible disc-drive coupling; engine mounts.
1983 Computerworld 1 Aug. 6 An Apple Computer, Inc. Apple II+ computer with 48K bytes of memory, two diskdrives and an Apple language system.
2008 Newcastle (Austral.) Herald (Nexis) 29 Jan. 28 Mac OS X lets you assign certain system actions when you put a CD or DVD into the disc drive.
disc dynamo n. a dynamo consisting of a solid electrically conducting disc that is rotated in a stationary magnetic field.
ΚΠ
1881 W. Grist Crystal Palace, Internat. Electric Exhib. 1881–2, Official Catal. 94 Arago Disc Dynamo, for electric lighting, electro-plating and telegraphy.
1983 R. T. Merrill & M. W. McElhinny Earth's Magn. Field vii. 217 A disc dynamo (or homopolar or Hertzenberg dynamo)..was suggested by Larmor..to explain the origin of the earth's magnetic field.
2011 G. Turner North Pole, South Pole (new ed.) xv. 225 It was easy to see that a simple modification of Faraday's disc dynamo would transform it into a self-exciting dynamo.
disc electrometer n. rare (now historical) a device for measuring the potential difference between two parallel metal discs, one larger and fixed, the other smaller and spring-loaded.The force between the discs, as measured by the spring, is related to the separation of the discs and the potential difference between them in an arithmetically simple way. The device is usually called an attracted disc electrometer.
ΚΠ
1868 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1867 490 Attracted disk electrometers.]
1907 Proc. Physical Soc. 21 89 As in Kelvin's disk electrometer, parallel plates may be made practically infinite by his device of the guard-ring.
2000 N. Kestelman et al. Electrets Engin. ii. 60 (caption) Disc electrometers.
disc emulator n. (usually in form disk emulator) Computing a file or a device which is treated as a disk by an operating system; a piece of software allowing this.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > system or utility programmes > other
rollback1954
loader1959
package1964
scheduler1966
post-processor1967
shell1974
disc emulator1977
profiler1977
spooler1979
updater1980
sniffer1986
vaccine1986
antivirus1988
1977 Mini-micro Syst. June 58/2 A mass core memory module..with interfaces to emulate DEC and Data General fixed-head disk systems. The fixed-head disk emulator..comes in a 15- 3/4-inch high rack-mountable chassis.
1996 Business Wire (Nexis) 23 Sept. A firmware development system, including a sophisticated disk emulator, is also available.
2008 A. Conci et al. in R. Micheloni et al. Memories Wireless Syst. vi. 156 Above the disk emulator, the higher software levels see the Flash as a consecutive subset of sectors.
disc engine n. Mechanics any of various engines in which compression and expansion of the working fluid occurs in a space created by a nutating or rotating disc in an enclosed chamber; (in later use) spec. an internal combustion engine involving a nutating disc.The earliest engines of this type were steam engines (an early one, with a nutating disc, was invented by Edward and James Dakeyne in 1830).
ΚΠ
1833 Mechanics' Mag. 18 242 One of these half oscillatory, half revolving [hydraulic] disc engines.
1845 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. 39 736 Mr. H. Davies has constructed eight towing boats, fitted with disk engines, for the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal Company.
1855 Mechanics' Mag. 63 266 In 1849 disc engines..were employed with great success in the printing office of the Times.
1880 U.S. Patent 228,906 1/1 This invention relates to an improvement in that kind of rotary motors commonly called ‘disk-engines’.
1999 Sunday Express (Nexis) 7 Nov. His Nutating Disc Engine relies on a disc, about 10 inches across, ‘wobbling like a spinning coin’.
2001 B. Bowers Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS (ed. 2) viii. 93 The disc engine has a barrel-shaped cylinder and its ‘piston’ is a disc fixed on a ball and socket joint at the centre of the barrel.
disc galaxy n. Astronomy a galaxy in the approximate form of a disc.Disc galaxies include lenticular galaxies and spiral ones.
ΚΠ
1962 Proc. 15th Internat. Astron. Union Symp. 1961 196 I get the impression that—while the disc galaxies are apparently the predominant form—the spirals really predominate in each unit volume among giant galaxies.
1989 J. Silk Big Bang (rev. ed.) x. 205 Disk galaxies are thought to form outside the great clusters.
2008 J. Gribbin Galaxies: Very Short Introd. ii. 18 Even today many astronomers refer to ‘spirals’ when they are talking about essentially featureless disc galaxies.
disc golf n. originally U.S. a game in which players throw a lightweight plastic disc into each of a series of baskets on an outdoor course, the object being to complete the course using the fewest possible throws; cf. Frisbee golf n. at Frisbee n. Additions.
ΚΠ
1974 Daily Home News (New Brunswick, New Jersey) 3 May 41/2 There will be accuracy and distance contests, disc golf on an 18-hole course, and throw, run, and catch competition[s].
1993 Sports Illustr. 15 Nov. 11/2 She won two events, accuracy and discathon, and was second in disc golf, maximum-time-aloft, distance, and freestyle.
2013 Parramatta (Austral.) Advertiser (Nexis) 13 Nov. 79 If you love outdoor games but find golf frustrating, try disc golf with a frisbee.
disc harrow n. [ < disc n. + harrow n.1] Agriculture a harrow bearing rows of sharp-edged, slightly concave metal discs to break up the soil.
ΚΠ
1858 J. Slight & R. S. Burn Bk. Farm Implements ii. §3 The Iron-web or Disc-Harrow is a late invention by the ingenious and indefatigable Mr Smith, late of Deanston, for the purpose of covering-in grass.
1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xix. 270 The Disc-Harrow..with its saucer-shaped discs strung on two axle-shafts.
2003 Tractor & Machinery Oct. 85 (caption) Parmiter Force 8 disc harrows (which either mount or trail).
disc-harrow v. [ < disc n. + harrow v.1, after disc harrow n.] Agriculture transitive to cultivate (land) with a disc harrow.
ΚΠ
1883 T. W. Leys Brett's Colonists’ Guide 78 It should be ploughed, disc-harrowed, and worked as fine as possible.
1948 Brit. Birds 41 29 This area of waste ground had been disc harrowed a few days before.
2010 J. C. Calhoun Unvarnished Truth ii. 13 He disk-harrowed it to break up the big clods.
disc loading n. Aeronautics the ratio of the thrust or lift generated by a rotor to its disc area.
ΚΠ
1928 Techn. Rep. Aeronaut. Res. Comm. 1927–8 I. 368 For a given weight per horse power the ceiling and rate of climb both fall as the disc loading increases.
2004 J. Watkinson Art Helicopter vi. 192 Small machines use piston engines and lower disc loadings.
disc memory n. (usually in form disk memory) Computing data storage space located on a disk; (also) the disk itself.
ΚΠ
1952 Electr. Engin. (U.S.) Aug. 749/2 (caption) Schematic diagram of head positioning mechanism in large disk memory.
1988 Computer Graphics World Feb. 60/1 A 32-bit computer with..generous amounts of RAM and disk memory.
2001 NetworkWorld 19 Mar. 47/2 The server..fetches relevant data from cache or disk memory.
disc micrometer n. (a) Astronomy a micrometer (micrometer n. 1) in which the image in a telescope or microscope is made to fall on a circular disc, placed at such a position as to match the image in diameter, the position and diameter of the disc then allowing the angular size of the image to be calculated; now rare and historical; (b) Engineering a micrometer (micrometer n. 2) in which the two jaws end in a circular disc to provide a larger grasping area.
ΚΠ
1783 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 9 The measures of the Planet by the lucid disk micrometer appearing to me very small, I resolved to ascertain the power of my telescope again most scrupulously.]
1873 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 105 169 The use of the disc micrometer described by me in another place, I do not consider practicable with storms in our latitudes.
1972 Cellular Immunity 5 250 The paw diameter reaction was measured with a disk micrometer.
1978 T. J. Kim & M. F. Wilson in L. T. McCarthy et al. Chem. Dispersants for Control of Oil Spills 205 The ocular of the microscope was fitted with a disk micrometer in its focal plane to assist in drop size measurements.
1986 W. E. Boyes Low-Cost Jigs, Fixtures & Gages xii. 224 Disc micrometers..are used for checking the thickness of lands or sections bounded by narrow grooves.
2012 P. J. Hoffman et al. Precision Machining Technol. iv. 119 (caption) (A) A disc micrometer. (B) A blade micrometer. (C) A conical micrometer.
disc operating system n. (usually in form disk operating system) Computing an operating system that allows the use of disks; spec. any of various such operating systems developed for IBM personal computers; abbreviated DOS; now frequently historical.
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society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > single-user system
disc operating system1965
DOS1967
1965 Computers & Automation Feb. 17/1 The software systems offered for Spectra are..262K Disc Operating System.
1967 Data-Processing Nov.–Dec. 287 An advanced disc operating system developed by English Electric Computers for use with the System 4-50 computer.
1980 R. Zaks CP/M Handbk. with MP/M v. 185 One of the primary functions of any disk operating system (DOS) is to provide effective and convenient management of disk-based files.
2003 InfoWorld 15 Dec. 47/1 These clones had another thing in common: a disk operating system written by a tiny company called Microsoft.
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1867 W. S. Dallas tr. C. L. Nitzsch Pterylography 70 The Disk owls [Ger. Schleiereulen]..belonging to this group are in every respect so peculiarly organized and so different from the other Owls that I must attribute to them the rank of a distinct genus.
disc pack n. (usually in form disk pack) Computing (now chiefly historical) a storage medium consisting of an assembly of hard disk platters layered on a central spindle, all within a removable protective cover.
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > disk pack
disc pack1962
1962 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 Nov. 8 Available with this computer are the revolutionary removable 1311 Disk Packs.
1985 Inmac Catal. Spring 21/1 Dust and impact are the two major problems you face when transporting data—both can cause dropouts on tapes, disk packs and cartridges.
2008 B. Jacob et al. Memory Syst. xvi. 604/1 Removable disk packs became the dominant form of disk drives for the next 13 years until fixed spindle drives returned in the IBM 3350.
disc parking n. a parking scheme whereby each vehicle is required to display a disc-shaped parking ticket or permit; cf. parking disc n. at parking n. Compounds 2.
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1958 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 5 Apr. 6/5 The problems involved in disk parking have played havoc with the economic life of companies located in the ‘Blue Zone’.
1960 Daily Tel. 2 Apr. 1/1 Provision of disc parking on the lines of the system used in Paris.
2003 Irish Times (Nexis) 26 June 51 There is residential disc parking on Beechwood Avenue.
disc pile n. an iron pile, having a disk or flange as a foot, used for foundations in sand.
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1895 Westm. Gaz. 19 Dec. 8/2 The structure is..to be supported on disc piles sunk to a depth of 30 ft. in the sand.
disc sander n. a sander in which the sanding is done by a disc of abrasive material fixed to a circular wheel that is rapidly rotated by an electric motor.
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1906 World To-day Apr. 390/2 Here the buzzing, noises of a sawmill, coming from rip saws, swing saws, band saws, disc sanders, spindle shapers and great triple drum sanders greet the ear.
1950 Pop. Mech. Feb. 264/1 (advt.) The disc sander is excellent for roughing, hogging off, removing point, and for other coarse sanding.
2002 Better Homes & Gardens Wood June 96/1 Form a point on each stake using a disc sander.
disc signal n. Railways (now chiefly historical) any of various types of signal in the form of a disc or displaying a disc.
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1841 F. Smith in Rep. Officers Railway Dept. App. 178 in Parl. Papers (1842) XLI. 13 A large disc signal to be used by day, and a red light for the night, should be put up at every station on this line.
1912 L. P. Lewis Railway Signal Engin. ix. 235 There is some divergence of practice as to which side of the line a disc signal should be placed.
2003 B. Solomon Railroad Signaling i. 36 (caption) The disc signal..displayed two aspects.
disc space n. (a) Medicine the space between adjacent vertebral bodies (normally occupied by an intervertebral disc), esp. as seen on a radiograph of the spine; (b) Computing (usually in form disk space) room on a disk for the storage of data; cf. space n.1 7e.
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1925 Arch. Clin. Cancer Res. 1 81 X-ray examination revealed..a diminution in the intervertebral disc spaces indicating a probable destruction of cartilage.
1961 Theory Computing Machine Design (University Michigan Eng. Summer Conf.) 31 Freeing disk space and core space..can under certain circumstances be meaningless.
1991 UNIX Rev. Sept. 109/2 We..set aside more and more disk space for on-line hyperhelp.
2001 Jrnl. Feline Med. & Surg. 3 161 Radiographic studies confirmed narrowed intervertebral disc spaces.
2008 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Dec. b10/6 The system uses disk space in a way that tries to avoid fragmenting files to begin with.
disc steam engine n. rare (now historical) a disc engine powered by steam.
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1839 Newcastle Courant 6 Sept. 3/2 Mr. Whigshaw read a paper on the disc steam engine.
1911 Gas Engine July 357 (caption) An example of unusual construction, having its prototype in the Colt disk steam engine of some twenty years ago.
1952 G. E. Fussell Farmer's Tools, 1500–1900 v. 163 At this show [sc. the Royal Show at Liverpool in 1842]..Ransome's exhibited a steam disc engine for driving a threshing machine.
disc storage n. (usually in form disk storage) Computing storage of data on a disk or disks; disk space.
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > on disk
disc system1848
disc storage1957
1951 J. A. Weidenhammer (title) Rabinow selective multiple magnetic disk storage device. (IBM Technical Rep.)]
1957 Proc. IRE-AIEE-ACM Western Joint Computer Conf. 44/1 The 60-word block of core storage serves as a static buffer for information transferred..between computer and disk storage.
1982 InfoWorld 25 Jan. 14/2 The cheaper, more capacious RAM memory of new systems takes on some duties formerly restricted to disk storage.
2007 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Aug. 74/2 As many as 250 servers inside provide up to seven terabytes of active memory and more than two petabytes of disk storage.
disc system n. (a) a machine, appliance, or system employing discs; spec. (usually in form disk system) a computer system in which a disk is used as the main storage medium; a storage system incorporating a disk; (b) a system or set of discs; (Astronomy) a galactic system in the form of a disc (cf. disc galaxy n.).
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society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > [noun] > magnetic > on disk
disc system1848
disc storage1957
1848 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 11 10/1 The telegraphs in the United States, France, and Prussia, are on the disc system.
1887 U.S. Patent 363,896 2/2 Type-writing machine... The handle O′ is then revolved axially by the operator, carrying with it the disk system.
1957 Billboard 14 Oct. 1/3 London Records demonstrated its own stereophonic disk system last week.
1959 Proc. Western Joint Computer Conf. 211/2 To serve this end, the entire disk system is periodically and automatically given a test problem.
1961 Bull. Astron. Inst. Netherlands 16 65 In NGC 4594 the distribution of dark material in the disk system is completely different from the distribution of the majority of the stars.
1990 J. Gribbin & M. Rees Cosmic Coincidences (1991) iii. 96 Our Milky Way will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy..within 5 billion years, transforming these two disc systems into a huge amorphous starpile.
2001 J. Watkinson Art Digital Audio (ed. 3) x It is possible to contain all the commercials and jingles in daily use on a disk system thus eliminating the doubtful quality of analog cartridge machines.
2012 P. B. Thurrott & R. Rivera Windows 8 Secrets xi. 396 (caption) File history is disabled by default and will recommend a network location on a single disk system.
disc telegraph n. now historical a telegraph in which the letters are arranged round the edge of a circular plate, which is rotated to bring a chosen letter into position.
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1847 Mech. Mag. 23 Mar. 250 This rate was corroborated at the Amsterdam station of the Harlaem and Amsterdam line, on which Wheatstone's disc telegraph is used.
1859 T. P. Shaffner Telegr. Man. xx. 303 They invented a revolving disk telegraph, with a new double-action escapement for either one or two line-wires.
1995 G. J. Holzmann & B. Pehrson Early Hist. Data Networks 45 Details on the use of disc telegraphs in the Netherlands and in Curacao in the nineteenth century.
disc valve n. Mechanics a valve consisting of a disc that is moved back and forth against a flat seat or rotated about a diameter in a tube to open and close it.
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1830 Repertory Patent Inventions 10 204 F is the lower chamber of the cylinder, which lies under the piston disc valve; it receives all that passes from the upper chamber E through the valve O.
1876 R. Routledge Discov. 19th Cent. 7 The position..assumed by the apparatus when the engine is in motion, the disc-valve being partly open.
1938 J.-B. O. Sneeden Introd. Internal Combustion Engin. (new ed.) viii. 132 The flow of mixture to the cylinder is controlled by the disc valve..which is operated by hand or by a pedal known as the accelerator pedal.
2009 J. R. Shannon Understanding Pipe Organ v. 80 The disc valve, held by the chest wind, remains tightly in place.
disc wheel n. (a) a gear arrangement in which a spur gear is driven by a spiral thread on the face of a disc (now rare); (b) a wheel in the form of a solid disc (now used chiefly on bicycles), as opposed to one with spokes.
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1868 H. T. Brown Five Hundred & Seven Mech. Movements 13 The spiral thread of the disk-wheel drives the spur-gear, moving it the distance of one tooth at every revolution.
1919 Pop. Sci. July 37 (caption) Note the clean-cut appearance that the disk wheel gives to a car.
1932 Pop. Mech. Oct. 546/1 The apparatus which makes metal appear soft consists of a disk wheel driven through gears by an electric motor.
1994 L. Hall Insight into Steam 22/1 The spokes [of the main driving wheel] are so heavily ‘gusseted’ that the result is almost a disc wheel.
2007 Procycling June 110/2 (advt.) Ever wish for the benefits of a disc wheel during a lone breakaway attempt?
disc-winding n. an armature (armature n. 4c) winding in which the convolutions are flat.
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1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 577/2 The fourth or disc winding was in principle employed in many of the earliest machines.
disc worship n. (chiefly with reference to ancient Egypt) veneration of the sun or solar disc; cf. Aten n.
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1851 W. S. W. Vaux Handbk. to Antiq. in Brit. Museum 339/5 (table) Heresy of Disk-worship stopped.
1958 C. R. Salit Man in Search of Immortality ix. 100 The pyramid really is an outgrowth of disc worship, as when a man ascends the mountain top to greet the rising sun.
2007 J. C. Darnell & C. Manassa Tutankhamun's Armies ii. 47 The rulers..were reluctant to abandon the names of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, even as they appear to have abandoned the disk worship of that illustrious pair.
Derivatives
disc-like adj. [originally after post-classical Latin discoides discoid adj.]
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the world > space > shape > curvature > roundness > [adjective] > circular > having shape of disc
discous1706
discoid1729
disc-like1787
disc-shaped1801
disciform1807
discoidal1808
discal1839
discose1989
1787 E. Darwin et al. tr. C. Linnaeus et al. Families of Plants II. 785/1 Discoides. (Disk-like.).
1893 J. Tuckey tr. B. Hatschek Amphioxus 137 A disc-like thickening of the hypoblast.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 10/2 Disc-like expansions of the fingers and toes.
1956 Nature 11 Feb. 277/2 Red cells retain their disk-like form.
2002 Times 10 Apr. 16/5 Disc-like clouds of debris..are left by the death throes of decrepit stars.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
discadj.
/dɪsk/, U.S. /dɪsk/ colloquial. rare.
= disconnected adj.
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > [adjective] > disjoining or disconnecting > disjoined, disunited, or disconnected
disjointc1420
sejointc1440
dissolute?1541
unjointed1561
disunited1562
disjoined1591
disjunct1599
disjointeda1643
disunite1642
disjuncted1657
unmortised1736
broken1819
disarticulated1834
disc1916
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 175 The wire was pronounced disconnected, or ‘disc’, as the signaller called it.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
discdiskv.
/dɪsk/, U.S. /dɪsk/ Agriculture.
transitive. To cultivate with a disc cultivator or disc harrow; (with in) to bury (vegetation, etc.) in the soil when doing this.
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1879 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 2nd Ser. 15 434 As there was not time to ‘disc’ the land it was thrown into open furrows.
1945 B. Macdonald Egg & I (1946) iii. 45 When the garden..had been ploughed, disked, harrowed and dragged.
1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Mar. 314/1 Stalks should be ploughed or disced in..after the tobacco harvest.
2004 New Yorker 11 Oct. 87/3 Then he was talking about no-till planting, soil that wasn't disked or plowed.
Derivatives
ˈdiscing n.
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1879 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 2nd Ser. 15 434 The swedes..were uneven in size, the surface of the land being rather rough for want of ‘discing’.
1917 Nat. Weather & Crop Bull. Mar. 4/2 Cutting corn-stalks, disking, and plowing have commenced.
2002 L. Rombough Grape Grower vi. 117/1 Frequent discing to control weeds between grape rows can also break the pupal cells in the soil.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1665
adj.1916
v.1879