The Collaborative International Dictionary
compact disc \com"pact disc`\, compact disk \com"pact disk`\(k[o^]m"p[a^]kt d[i^]sk`), n. a disk-shaped optical data storage medium approximately 4-3/4 in. in diameter, which stores binary data as microscopic nonreflective holes or pits in an otherwise reflective surface, and is recorded and played back by rotation in an electronic device containing a laser. It is often referred to by its abbreviation CD. It is a type of optical data storage medium. Compact disks are used for recordings of music as well as of data for computer applications.
Syn: CD.
laser disk \laser disk\ n. A digital data storage medium consisting of a thin disk onto which the data is impressed by a laser, in the form of a linear sequence of dots; same as optical disk. The data is subsequently read back by the use of a laser beam. See also compact disk.
Note: The original disk may be created by use of a laser, but copies of the original disk may be created by a replicating process which does not itself require a laser.
Wiktionary
n. A form of digital media on a plastic disc read by a laser in a CD drive. It comes in several varieties including CD-ROM, CD-R(,) and CD-RW.
WordNet
n. a digitally encoded recording on an optical disk that is smaller than a phonograph record; played back by a laser [syn: compact disc, CD]
Usage examples of "compact disk".
The compact disk surely will not survive for more than a century or so, nor could it be easily read in any distant future.
She tugged out a sheaf of papers bound in booklet form and a multimedia compact disk in a slip-sleeve.
She drove a red BMW with a cellular phone and a compact disk stereo.
The same way a compact disk isn't responsible for what's recorded on it, that's how we are.
What this meant was that Microsoft's new operating system had, on this day, been placed on a special compact disk known as a golden master, which would be used to stamp out a jintillion copies in preparation for its thunderous release a few weeks later.
Hicks pulled out his pocket compact disk player from a suitcase and hooked it into the computer.
On it sat a pink Lava Lite, a halogen desk lamp, and a hundred or so compact disk holders spread around him in a semicircle.