flash

Etymology 1

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”).

verb

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.
3. (intransitive) To be visible briefly.
   The scenery flashed by quickly.
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.
   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. Sept 14 2020, Charlie Campbell, “'Thailand’s Inconvenient Truth.' Why This Billionaire Is Risking It All to Back Reform of the Monarchy”, in Time
5. (transitive, intransitive, 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.
   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. 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
   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. 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
   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. 1856, Matthew Arnold, “Preface”, in Poems, new and complete edition, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 20
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.
   But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post[…]. 11 January 2011, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2016-03-18
10. (transitive) 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.
    Oft have I ſeaſoned ſavory periods / With ſugar'd words, to delude Guſtus' taſte, / And oft embelliſh'd my entreative phraſe, / Limning and flaſhing it with various dyes, / To draw proud Viſus to me by the eyes: […] 1607, Antony Brewer [attributed; now generally believed to be by Thomas Tomkis], Lingua: Or, The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Comedy (A Select Collection of Old Plays; V), [London]: [Printed for R[obert] Dodsley], published [1744], →OCLC, act I, scene i, page 8
21. (transitive, obsolete) To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash.
    The varlet ſaw, when to the flood he came, / How without ſtop or ſtay he fiercely lept, / And deep himſelfe beducked in the ſame, / That in the lake his loftie creſt was ſteept, / Ne of his ſafetie ſeemed care he kept, / But with his raging armes he rudely flaſhd / The waves about, and all his armour ſwept, / That all the bloud and filth away was waſht, / Yet ſtill he bet the water, and the billows daſht. 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, London: Printed for W[illiam] Ponsonbie, OCLC 18024649, book II, canto VI, stanza XLII; republished as The Faerie Queene. By Edmund Spenser. With an Exact Collation of the Two Original Editions, Published by Himself at London in Quarto; the Former Containing the First Three Books Printed in 1590, and the Latter the Six Books in 1596. To which are Now Added, a New Life of the Author, and also a Glossary. Adorn'd with Thirty-two Copper-Plates, from the Original Drawings of the late W. Kent, Esq.; Architect and Principal Painter to His Majesty, volume I, London: Printed for J. Brindley, in New Bond-Street, and S. Wright, Clerk of His Majesty's Works, at Hampton-Court, 1751, OCLC 642577152, page 316

noun

1. A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.
2. A very short amount of time.
   [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. 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
   Quick—something must be done! done in a flash, too! But the very imminence of the emergency paralyzed his invention. 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1st American edition, Hartford, Conn., Chicago, Ill., Cincinnati, Oh.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 164
3. (colloquial, US) A flashlight; an electric torch.
   I reached a flash out of my car pocket and went down-grade and looked at the car. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, OCLC 747046957; republished London: Penguin Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-241-95628-1, page 34
4. (figurative) A sudden and brilliant burst, as of genius or wit.
   [B]reath his faults ſo quaintly, / That they may ſeeme the taints of liberty; / The flaſh and out-breake of a fiery minde, / A ſauagenes in vnreclaim'd bloud of generall aſſault. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 259
   I cannot learn that he Patrick Henry] gave, in his youth, any evidence of that precocity which sometimes distinguishes uncommon genius. His companions recollect no instance of premature wit, no striking sentiment, no flash of fancy, no remarkable beauty or strength of expression; and no indication, however slight, either of that impassioned love of liberty, or of that adventurous daring and intrepidity, which marked, so strongly, his future character. 1817, William Wirt (Attorney General), “section I”, in Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by James Webster, No. 10, S. Eighth Street. William Brown, printer, Prune-street, →OCLC, page 6
   Fabio Capello insisted [Wayne] Rooney was in the right frame of mind to play in stormy Podgorica despite his father's arrest on Thursday in a probe into alleged betting irregularities, but his flash of temper – when he kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic – suggested otherwise. 7 October 2011, Phil McNulty, “Euro 2012: Montenegro 2 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2016-10-05
5. (uncountable) Pizzazz, razzle-dazzle.
   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. 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, page 390
6. Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.
7. (Britain, 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.
    At three-thirty that afternoon Max, Tom, and Sharon placed tabs under their tongues and sat together in the living room to wait for the flash. 1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem
    A few seconds following the injection, the user experiences a sudden, intense generalized sensation which has both physiological and psychological characteristics. […] pure, commercially produced products do not give a good flash […] 1973, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, Proper and Improper Use of Drugs by Athletes: Hearings, page 645
    The flash — the odd combination of a cocoon-comfort and an inexplicable physical ascendency to a "high" — provides the major incentive for the new experimenter to move to the next phase of his career. 1976, Robert H. Coombs, Lincoln J. Fry, Patricia G. Lewis, Socialization in Drug Abuse, page 123
17. Synonym of flashback (“recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug”)
    I'd heard about LSD and wanted to try it early on, but I'd also heard of delayed reactions, called acid flashes, brought on by unexpected stimuli; they could prove fatally disorienting. 2021, Glenn Petersen, War and the Arc of Human Experience, page 129
18. (dated) A newsflash.
    The United Press got the flash "Germans declare martial law in Ruhr" […] 1931, George Seldes, Can These Things Be!, volume 25, page 274
19. A brief exposure or making visible (of a smile, badge, etc).
    I didn't need them anymore. The police badge worked like a dream with both Alice and Kerry. One quick flash of the badge, and they were in the car and out of the rain. No questions asked. 2015-10-27, Tim O'Rourke, Flashes, Scholastic Inc.
    Gabriel grabbed her wrist and spun her around, stepping forward right in her face, showing a brief flash of fangs this time. “Not good enough. I can haul you over my shoulder if that's the way it has to be.” “I'd almost like to see you[…] 2017-06-29, Ally Shields, Embers of Fire, Etopia Press
    She ended the question with a flash of a smile that took more energy than she'd ever thought a mere smile could. 2018-10-03, Blaine Lee Pardoe, BattleTech Legends: Measure of a Hero, Catalyst Game Labs
20. The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public.
    panty flash
    […] the answer came to her. Camera flashes. That strobing light had been the flash of a camera. Icy panic poured through her body. She had a vision of Janet Jackson's boob flash at the Super Bowl;[…] 2005-09-01, Lisa Cach, Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel, Simon and Schuster, page 256
    “Would you like a boob flash?” Hundred token tips began to flow in. “Thanks guys, and she read off the user names. That deserves more than just a flash.” She pulled up the hem of her top and turned left and right giving them a great show[…] 2021-04-21, Tina Gray, Fantasy Lover, Pink Flamingo Media
21. A butterfly of the genus Rapala.
22. (telecommunications) Short for hook flash.

adj

1. (British, Australia and New Zealand, slang) Expensive-looking and demanding attention; stylish; showy.
   The barber man was small and flash, as barbers mostly are, He wore a strike-your-fancy sash, he smoked a huge cigar; 1892, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Ironbark
2. (UK, of a person) Having plenty of ready money.
3. (UK, of a person) Liable to show off expensive possessions or money.
   Bit of a flash git, don't you think? 1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1
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
   Why, you would not be boosing till lightman's in a square crib like mine, as if you were in a flash panny? 1828, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Pelham, Or, Adventures of a Gentleman

Etymology 2

From Middle English flasche, flaske; compare Old French flache, French flaque, which is of Germanic origin, akin to Middle Dutch vlacke (“an estuary, flats with stagnant pools”).

noun

1. A pool.
   their hearts lie lumpish as a Log that lies in a flash of water seven years together a. 1646, Jeremiah Burroughs, The Excellency of Holy Courage in Evil Times
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.