flash drive

American

Trademark, ThumbDrive, or flashdrive

noun

Computers.

a very small, portable, solid-state hard drive that can be inserted into a USB port for storage and retrieval of data.

flash drive British

noun

a pocket-sized portable computer hard drive and data storage device See also key drive pen drive thumb drive USB drive

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of flash drive

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This month, Andrews McMeel Publishing is celebrating the milestone with “Dbury@50: The Complete Digital Doonesbury,” which includes a companion book and a flash-drive archive of the comic’s whole history.

From Washington Post • Nov. 27, 2020

Marine, was arrested by Russian officials in December after he was handed a flash-drive with classified information that his lawyer has insisted Whelan was unaware of.

From Fox News • Jun. 21, 2019

Probably the most common cause of flash-drive corruption is inappropriate handling by users.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 11, 2019

Old pipes and spigots are a recurring motif in their case studies; artists have bent them into sofas, lamps, sconces, window frames and flash-drive covers.

From New York Times • Jul. 22, 2011

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023