- flash
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—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.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.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.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.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.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).37. Building Trades. to protect from leakage with flashing.38. Cards. to expose (a card) in the process of dealing.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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Universalium. 2010.