Flash Definition
See also Flash
Contents |
English
Etymology
From the Middle English word flashen (to splash), a variant of flasken, which was likely of imitative origin.
Pronunciation
Verb
flash (third-person singular simple present flashes, present participle flashing, simple past and past participle flashed)
- To briefly illuminate a scene.
- He flashed the light at the water, trying to see what made the noise.
- To blink; to shine or illuminate intermittently.
- The light flashed on and off.
- To be visible briefly.
- The scenery flashed by quickly.
- To make visible briefly.
- A number will be flashed on the screen.
- (computing) To write to the memory of an updatable component such as a BIOS chip or games cartridge.
- (ambitransitive, informal) To expose one's naked body, or part of it, in public briefly.
- (metallurgy) To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
- (juggling) to perform a flash.
- To move, or cause to move, suddenly
- 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, BBC:
- But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post...
- 2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham”, BBC:
Synonyms
- (to briefly illuminate): glint
Derived terms
Related terms
- flush (possibly)
See also
Noun
flash (plural flashes)
- A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.
- (linguistics) A language, created by a repressed minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class; for example, Ebonics.
- A very short amount of time.
- 1876, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
- 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,
- Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.
- (Cockney) The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders.
- (juggling) A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once.
Synonyms
- (sudden, short, temporary burst of light): gleam, glint
- (material left around the egde of a mould): moulding flash, molding flash
Antonyms
- (very short amount of time): aeon
Hypernyms
- (sudden, short, temporary burst of light): light
Derived terms
- antiflash
- camera flash
- flashy
- flashbulb
- flash flood
- flash in the pan
- flash memory
- flash photography
- flash point
- flashproof
- in a flash
- quick as a flash
See also
Translations
burst of light- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
|
Adjective
flash (comparative more flash, superlative most flash)
- (UK and New Zealand, slang) Expensive looking and attention worthy; stylish.
- (UK, of a person) Having plenty of ready money
Translations
expensive looking and attention worthyReferences
- “flash” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
- For the sense ‘a short period of time’, the 1858 Notes and Queries of Martim de Albuquerque was consulted. From page 437 of the sixth volume of the second series, published in London by Bell & Dally, 186 Fleet Street, in 1858 :
- Ought we not to collect for posterity the various ways in which very short times are denoted. Besides the one at the head, there are, — in no time, in next to no time, in less than no time, in a trice, in a jiffy, in a brace of shakes, before you can say Jack Robinson, in a crack, in the squeezing of a lemon, in the doubling of your fist, in the twinkling of an eye, in a moment, in an instant, in a flash.
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From English
Noun
flash m. (plural flashs)
- flash (burst of light)
- (photography) flash
- newsflash
- (juggling) flash
Derived terms
|