flash1
v.
- shine in a bright but brief, sudden, or intermittent way.
- move, pass, or send very quickly:
a look of terror flashed across his face.
- 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.
-
(flash over)
make an electric circuit by sparking across a gap.
n.
- a sudden brief burst of bright light.
- a camera attachment that produces a flash of light, for taking photographs in poor light.
- a sudden or brief manifestation or occurrence.
- a bright patch of colour.
▸Brit. a coloured patch of cloth worn on a uniform as a distinguishing emblem.
-
(Flash)
Computing (trademark in the US) an application used to produce animation sequences that can be viewed by a browser.
- excess plastic or metal forced between facing surfaces as two halves of a mould close up.
- a rush of water, especially down a weir to take a boat over shallows.
adj.
- informal, chiefly Brit. ostentatiously stylish or expensive.
- archaic relating to the language of criminals or prostitutes.
Phrase
- 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.]
Derivative
Etymology
ME (in the sense ‘splash water about’): prob. imitative; cf. flush1 and splash.
flash2
n.
Brit. a water-filled hollow formed by subsidence.
Etymology
ME (in the sense ‘a marshy place’): from OFr. flache, var. of Norman dial. flaque, from MDu. vlacke.