flash drive

or flashdrive

noun

, Computers.

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

flash drive

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of flash drive¹

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

“Those who are in hiding or who are waiting to be evacuated come to me to help them back up their phone data on flash drives, to avoid being caught by the Taliban fighters who are checking phones at the checkpoints,” he says.

From MIT Technology Review

You don’t want any of these flash drives to die on you while storing important files.

From Popular-Science

Storage devices are getting smaller and higher-capacity each year, and nothing demonstrates that more than Kingston’s DataTraveler Max line of USB-C flash drives.

From TechCrunch

The county has already handed over flash drives with 11 gigabytes of data reflecting the activity logs of county voting machines.

From Washington Post

If you want a device that’s good for transferring documents, photos, or other media from one device to another, or you just want to expand the storage space of your low-end laptop or tablet, then a mid-range flash drive may be your best bet.

From Popular-Science

(That immediately rendered the product's marketing shots inauthentic at best—think phone charger meets flash drive).

From The Daily Beast