flash

—flashingly, adv.

/flash/, n.

1. a brief, sudden burst of bright light: a flash of lightning.

2. a sudden, brief outburst or display of joy, wit, etc.

3. a very brief moment; instant: I'll be back in a flash.

4. Informal. flashlight (def. 1).

5. superficial, meretricious, or vulgar showiness; ostentatious display.

6. Also called news flash. Journalism. a brief dispatch sent by a wire service, usually transmitting preliminary news of an important story or development. Cf. bulletin (def. 2).

7. Photog.

a. bright artificial light thrown briefly upon a subject during an exposure.

b. See flash lamp.

c. flashbulb.

d. flashtube.

8. the sudden flame or intense heat produced by a bomb or other explosive device.

9. a sudden thought, insight, inspiration, or vision.

10. Slang. rush (def. 25).

11. Metall.

a. a ridge of metal left on a casting by a seam between parts of the mold.

b. a ridge formed at the edge of a forging or weld where excess metal has been squeezed out.

12. Poker. a hand containing all five suits in a game played with a five-suit pack.

13. a device, as a lock or sluice, for confining and releasing water to send a boat down a shallow stream.

14. the rush of water thus produced.

15. See hot flash.

16. Obs. the cant or jargon of thieves, vagabonds, etc.

17. flash in the pan,

a. a brief, intense effort that produces no really significant result.

b. a person who makes such an effort; one who enjoys short-lived success.

v.i.

18. to break forth into sudden flame or light, esp. transiently or intermittently: a buoy flashing in the distance.

19. to gleam.

20. to burst suddenly into view or perception: The answer flashed into his mind.

21. to move like a flash.

22. to speak or behave with sudden anger, outrage, or the like (often fol. by out): to flash out at a stupid remark.

23. to break into sudden action.

24. Slang. to open one's clothes and expose the genitals suddenly, and usually briefly, in public.

25. Slang. to experience the intense effects of a narcotic or stimulant drug.

26. to dash or splash, as the sea or waves.

27. Archaic. to make a flash or sudden display.

v.t.

28. to emit or send forth (fire or light) in sudden flashes.

29. to cause to flash, as powder by ignition or a sword by waving.

30. to send forth like a flash.

31. to communicate instantaneously, as by radio or telegraph.

32. to make an ostentatious display of: He's forever flashing a large roll of bills.

33. to display suddenly and briefly: She flashed her ID card at the guard.

34. to change (water) instantly into steam by pouring or directing onto a hot surface.

35. to increase the flow of water in (a river, channel, etc.).

36. Glassmaking and Ceram.

a. to coat (plain glass or a glass or ceramic object) with a layer of colored, opalescent, or white glass.

b. to apply (such a layer).

c. to color or make (glass) opaque by reheating.

37. Building Trades. to protect from leakage with flashing.

38. Cards. to expose (a card) in the process of dealing.

39. Archaic. to dash or splash (water).

40. flash on, Slang.

a. to have a sudden thought, insight, or inspiration about.

b. to have a sudden, vivid memory or mental picture of: I just flashed on that day we spent at the lake.

c. to feel an instantaneous understanding and appreciation of.

adj.

41. sudden and brief: a flash storm.

42. showy or ostentatious.

43. caused by or used as protection against flash: flash injuries; flash clothing.

44. counterfeit or sham.

45. belonging to or connected with thieves, vagabonds, etc., or their cant or jargon.

46. of or pertaining to followers of boxing, racing, etc.

[1350-1400; ME flasshen to sprinkle, splash, earlier flask(i)en; prob. phonesthemic in orig.; cf. similar expressive words with fl- and -sh]

Syn. 1. flare, gleam, glare. 3. twinkling, wink. 19. scintillate. FLASH, GLANCE, GLINT, GLITTER mean to send forth a sudden gleam (or gleams) of bright light. To FLASH is to send forth light with a sudden, transient brilliancy: A shooting star flashed briefly. To GLANCE is to emit a brilliant flash of light as a reflection from a smooth surface: Sunlight glanced from the glass windshield. GLINT suggests a hard bright gleam of reflected light, as from something polished or burnished: Light glints from silver or from burnished copper. To GLITTER is to reflect intermittent flashes of light from a hard surface: Ice glitters in the moonlight. 42. flashy, gaudy, tawdry; pretentious, superficial. 44. false, fake.

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