flash

flash¹

verb

1》 shine in a bright but brief, sudden, or intermittent way.

2》 move, pass, or send very quickly: a look of terror flashed across his face.

3》 display or be displayed briefly or repeatedly.

    ↘informal display conspicuously so as to impress: they flash their money about.

    ↘informal (of a man) show one's genitals in public.

4》 (flash over) make an electric circuit by sparking across a gap.

noun

1》 a sudden brief burst of bright light.

2》 a camera attachment that produces a flash of light, for taking photographs in poor light.

3》 a sudden or brief manifestation or occurrence.

4》 a bright patch of colour.

    ↘Brit. a coloured patch of cloth worn on a uniform as a distinguishing emblem.

5》 (Flash) Computing (trademark in the US) an application used to produce animation sequences that can be viewed by a browser.

6》 excess plastic or metal forced between facing surfaces as two halves of a mould close up.

7》 a rush of water, especially down a weir to take a boat over shallows.

adjective

1》 informal, chiefly Brit. ostentatiously stylish or expensive.

2》 archaic relating to the language of criminals or prostitutes.

Phrases

flash in the pan a sudden but brief success that is unlikely to be repeated. [with allusion to the priming of a firearm, the flash arising from an explosion of gunpowder within the lock.]

Derivatives

flasher noun

Origin

ME (in the sense 'splash water about'): prob. imitative; cf. flush¹ and splash.

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flash²

noun Brit. a water-filled hollow formed by subsidence.

Origin

ME (in the sense 'a marshy place'): from OFr. flache, var. of Norman dialect flaque, from MDu. vlacke.