flash - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

In some senses, from Middle English flasshen, a variant of flasken, flaskien (“to sprinkle, splash”), which was likely of imitative origin; in other senses probably of North Germanic origin akin to Swedish dialectal flasa (“to burn brightly, blaze”), related to flare. Compare also Icelandic flasa (“to rush, go hastily”).

flash (third-person singular simple present flashes, present participle flashing, simple past and past participle flashed)

A man photographing himself in a mirror using a camera flash, creating a bright flash of light

  1. (transitive) To cause to shine briefly or intermittently.
    He flashed the light at the water, trying to see what made the noise.
  2. (intransitive) To blink; to shine or illuminate intermittently.
    The light flashed on and off.
    • 1841, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XIII, in Night and Morning […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC:
      Eugenie's quick apprehensions seized the foul thought. Her eyes flashed—her cheek crimsoned.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:
      Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
  3. (intransitive) To be visible briefly.
    The scenery flashed by quickly.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 52:
      Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
  4. (transitive) To make visible briefly.
    A number will be flashed on the screen.
    The special agents flashed their badges as they entered the building.
    She flashed me a smile from the car window.
    • 2020 September 14, Charlie Campbell, “'Thailand’s Inconvenient Truth.' Why This Billionaire Is Risking It All to Back Reform of the Monarchy”, in Time‎[1], archived from the original on 14 September 2020:
      Today, people are taking to the street once again. Clad in face masks, and flashing the three-fingered Hunger Games salute to the sound of Thai rap, thousands of protesters have thronged the capital over recent months, demanding political reform of a military-backed government seen as bungling and corrupt.
  5. (ambitransitive, informal) To expose one's intimate body part or undergarment, often momentarily and unintentionally. (Contrast streak.)
    She flashed a vocalist at a rock concert.
    Her skirt was so short that she flashed her underpants as she was getting out of her car.
  6. (figurative) To break forth like a sudden flood of light; to show a momentary brilliance.
    • 1845, Thomas [Noon] Talfourd, Report of the Proceedings Connected with the Grant Soirée of the Manchester Athenæum, Held on Thursday, October 23rd, 1845. From the Manchester Guardian of Saturday, October 25th, 1845. Printed for the Directors, Manchester: Cave and Sever, Printers, 18, St. Ann's Street, →OCLC, page 16:
      For although party's worn-out moulds have been shivered, and names which have flashed and thundered as the watchwords of unnumbered struggles for power are now fast waning into history, it is too much to hope, perhaps to desire, until the education of mankind shall more nearly approach its completion, that strong differences of opinion and feeling should cease to agitate the scenes on which freemen are called to discharge political duties.
    • 1851, Alfred Tennyson, “The Princess: A Medley”, in Poems by Alfred Tennyson. In Two Volumes, new edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, page 163:
      But while he jested thus, / A thought flashed through me, which I clothed in act. / Remembering how we three presented Maid, / Or Nymph, or Goddess, at high tide of feast, / In masque or pageant at my father's court.
    • 1856, Matthew Arnold, “Preface”, in Poems, new and complete edition, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 20:
      The Isabella [_Isabella, or the Pot of Basil_], then, is a perfect treasure-house of graceful and felicitous words and images: almost in every stanza there occurs one of those vivid and picturesque turns of expression, by which the object is made to flash upon the eye of the mind, and which thrill the reader with a sudden delight.
  7. To flaunt; to display in a showy manner.
    He flashed a wad of hundred-dollar bills.
  8. To communicate quickly.
    The news services flashed the news about the end of the war to all corners of the globe.
    to flash a message along the telephone wires; to flash conviction on the mind
  9. To move, or cause to move, suddenly.
    Flash forward to the present day.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62:
      ⁠Deep folly! yet that this could be—
      ⁠That I could wing my will with might
      ⁠To leap the grades of life and light,
      And flash at once, my friend, to thee: […]
    • 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport‎[2], archived from the original on 18 March 2016:
      But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post […].
  10. (transitive, dated) To telephone a person, only allowing the phone to ring once, in order to request a call back.
    Susan flashed Jessica, and then Jessica called her back, because Susan didn't have enough credit on her phone to make the call.
  11. (intransitive, of liquid) To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.)
  12. (transitive, climbing) To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt.
  13. (transitive, computing) To write to the memory of (an updatable component such as a BIOS chip or games cartridge).
    In order to flash a custom ROM to a phone, the boot loader must be unlocked first.
  14. (transitive, glassmaking) To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour.
  15. (transitive, glassmaking) To expand (blown glass) into a disc.
  16. (transitive) To send by some startling or sudden means.
  17. (intransitive) To burst out into violence.
  18. (juggling) To perform a flash.
  19. (metallurgy) To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
  20. (transitive, obsolete) To trick up in a showy manner.
  1. (transitive, obsolete) To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash.
  1. To flash back.

to cause to shine

to be visible briefly

to expose one's body briefly in public

to break forth like a sudden flood of light

to move, or cause to move suddenly

of liquid: to evaporate suddenly

climbing: to climb successfully on the first attempt

computing: to write to the memory of an updatable component

glassmaking: to cover with a thin layer

juggling: to perform a flash

to trick up in a showy manner

to strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface

flash (countable and uncountable, plural flashes)

  1. A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.
    Synonyms: gleam, glint
    Hypernym: light
    • 1958 November, “Storm Damage in the Home Counties”, in Railway Magazine, page 746:
      Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century."
  2. A very short amount of time.
    Synonyms: instant, jiffy, twinkle; see also Thesaurus:moment
    Antonyms: aeon, spell; see also Thesaurus:eon
    • 1680, Francis Bacon, “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St Alban. With a Table of the Colours of Good & Evil. Whereunto is Added The Wisdom of the Antients. Enlarged by the Honourable Author Himself; and Now More Exactly Published, London: Printed by M[ary] Clark, for Samuel Mearne, in Little Britain, John Martyn, in St. Pauls Church-yard, and Henry Herringman, in the New Exchange, →OCLC, pages 111–112:
      [F]or Empire and Greatneſs it importeth moſt, that a Nation do profeſs Arms as their principal Honour, Study and Occupation: […] The Fabrick of the State of Sparta was wholly (though not wiſely) framed and compoſed to that Scope and End. The Perſians and Macedonians had it for a flaſh. The Galls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others had it for a time.
    • 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1st American edition, Hartford, Conn.; Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Oh.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 164:
      Quick—something must be done! done in a flash, too! But the very imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention.
  3. (colloquial, US) A flashlight; an electric torch.
  4. (figuratively) A sudden and brilliant burst, as of genius or wit.
  5. (figurative, uncountable) Pizzazz, razzle-dazzle.
    Synonyms: elan, flair
    • 1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times‎[4], →ISSN:
      Above all, they hate flash. Just as the English working class has always been, they are fiercely puritanical and abhor all forms of display.
    • 1989 December 24, Elizabeth Pincus, “Screwball Glitz And Revolt Against Misogyny”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 24, page 16:
      Another pleasant surprise of She-Devil is director Susan Seidelman's infusion of political moxie into the movie, a departure from her tendency to dish out lots of flash with little substance.
    • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 390:
      The ATF sound was lacking in extended solos, flash, and pomposity, but CBS liked the group's respect for traditional Anglo-rock, their Beatles-like energy, and the splashes of Yes, Genesis, and 10cc that colored their music.
  6. Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.
    Synonyms: moulding flash, molding flash
  7. (British, Cockney) The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders.
  8. (juggling) A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once.
  9. (linguistics) A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class.
  10. (photography) Clipping of camera flash (“a device used to produce a flash of artificial light to help illuminate a scene”).
  11. (archaic) A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for colouring liquor to make it look stronger.
  12. (military) A form of military insignia.
    I just got my first commando flash.
  13. (computing, uncountable) Clipping of flash memory.
    The hybrid drive has 500 gigabytes of hard disk space for bulk storage and 2 gigabytes of high-speed flash for caching frequently-accessed files.
  14. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala.
  15. A tattoo flash (example design on paper to give an idea of a possible tattoo).
  16. The sudden sensation of being "high" after taking a recreational drug.
  1. Synonym of flashback (“recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug”).
  1. (dated) A newsflash.
  1. A brief exposure or making visible (of a smile, badge, etc).
  1. The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public.
    panty flash
  1. (telecommunications) Ellipsis of hook flash.

burst of light

linguistics: language created by a repressed minority

short for camera flash

flash (comparative more flash, superlative most flash)

  1. (British, Australia and New Zealand, slang) Expensive-looking and demanding attention; stylish; showy.
    • 1892, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Ironbark:
      The barber man was small and flash, as barbers mostly are,
      He wore a strike-your-fancy sash, he smoked a huge cigar;
  2. (UK, of a person) Having plenty of ready money.
  3. (UK, of a person) Liable to show off expensive possessions or money.
  4. (US, slang) Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously.
  5. (slang, obsolete) Relating to thieves and vagabonds.
    the flash language: thieves' cant or slang
    flash notes: counterfeit banknotes
    • 1828, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Pelham, Or, Adventures of a Gentleman:
      Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny?

From Middle English flashe, flaske, also found as flosche and flushe (whence modern English flosh and flush), used in Middle and modern English for bodies of water with varying emphasis on them being "pools" or "marshes".[1] It is not entirely clear whether these constitute a single term with varied spellings, or have distinct etymologies. The form flash, flashe is often suggested to be from Old French flache, French flaque, which is of Germanic origin, akin to Middle Dutch vlacke (“an estuary, flats with stagnant pools”). See flush for more on that form.

flash (plural flashes)

  1. A pool of water, in some areas especially one that is marshy, and/or one formed by subsidence of the ground due to mining. (Compare flush (“marsh; pool”).)
    • a. 1646, Jeremiah Burroughs, The Excellency of Holy Courage in Evil Times:
      their hearts lie lumpish as a Log that lies in a flash of water seven years together
    • 1895, The Naturalist, , page 232 :
      The […] woods, commons, ponds, 'flashes,' bogs, 'damp spots,' and ditches are, when the number and rarity of some of the species are taken into account, the richest botanical ground in Lincolnshire;
    • 1967, R. E. Bevan, Notes on the Science and Practice of the Controlled Tipping ..., page 40:
      It includes deep holes, wet and dry, and the hill-and-dale formations left by the mechanical excavation of sand, gravel, clay, ironstone and other surface-worked minerals; the heaps of shale, waste products and fuel ash resulting from deep mining, manufacturing and the generation of electric power; the flashes, swamps and hollows caused by mining subsidence; the hill-side scars made by chalk, limestone and hardrock quarrying; and the ruins of abandoned industrial buildings.[2]
    • 1972, The Naturalist, numbers 920-935, page 127:
      In breeding season the important [...] sites are distributed along the Dearne and Don on the flashes, marshes, ponds and oxbows, in the carrs around Doncaster, and the flooded gravel pits at Blaxton, Finningley, Sutton and Lound (see fig. 3).
    • 1986, A Directory of Neotropical Wetlands, page 544:
      A saline coastal lagoon, up to 3m deep, behind a sand bar, with brackish marshes (flashes) and mangrove swamps. The lagoon has now been permanently opened to the sea.
    • 2016, Tim Dee, Four Fields, page 47:
      Spring waders passed through on migration, joining the fen to other flashes, marshes, rivers, seas and oceans, flying from Africa to Siberia and landing en route only where their feet might be covered with water.
  2. (engineering) A reservoir and sluiceway beside a navigable stream, just above a shoal, so that the stream may pour in water as boats pass, and thus bear them over the shoal.
  1. ^ For example, in the 14th century Northern Verse Psalter (Surtees Psalter), Vsp D.7, the Yorkshire Writers edition by C. Horstmann (vol. 2, 1896), flaske (in the Hrl 1770 edition, flosshe) glosses Latin lacum (“lake”).
  2. ^ For interpretation of the meaning of this cite, cf. the English Dialect Dictionary's entry "flash", "A pool formed by the subsidence of salt-mines, Chambers' Jrn. (Dec. 1888); From settlements of the land caused by salt-works ‘in some places large lakes, called flashes, are formed, some of them more than 200 acres in area and gradually extending,’ Dublin Review (Apr. 1889) 431, in Lin. N. & Q. (Oct. 1891) 249

Borrowed from English flash.

flash m (plural flashs)

  1. flash (burst of light)
  2. (photography) flash
  3. newsflash
  4. (juggling) flash

Unadapted borrowing from English flash.

flash m (invariable)

  1. (photography) flash, camera flash
  2. newsflash

Unadapted borrowing from English flash.

flash n (plural flash-uri)

  1. flash

Unadapted borrowing from English flash.

flash m (plural flashes)

  1. (photography) flash
  2. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (Spain) freezie, freeze pop

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.