flash1
¦ verb
1. shine in a bright but brief, sudden, or intermittent way.
2. move, pass, or send very quickly: a look of terror flashed across his face.
3. display or be displayed briefly or repeatedly.
informal display conspicuously so as to impress: they flash their money about.
informal (of a man) show one's genitals in public.
4. (flash over) make an electric circuit by sparking across a gap.
¦ noun
1. a sudden brief burst of bright light.
2. a camera attachment that produces a flash of light, for taking photographs in poor light.
3. a sudden or brief manifestation or occurrence.
4. a bright patch of colour.
Brit. a coloured patch of cloth worn on a uniform as a distinguishing emblem.
5. (Flash) Computing (trademark in the US) an application used to produce animation sequences that can be viewed by a browser.
6. excess plastic or metal forced between facing surfaces as two halves of a mould close up.
7. a rush of water, especially down a weir to take a boat over shallows.
¦ adjective
1. informal, chiefly Brit. ostentatiously stylish or expensive.
2. archaic relating to the language of criminals or prostitutes.
Phrases
flash in the pan a sudden but brief success that is unlikely to be repeated. [with allusion to the priming of a firearm, the flash arising from an explosion of gunpowder within the lock.]
Derivatives
flasher noun
Origin
ME (in the sense 'splash water about'): prob. imitative; cf.
flush1 and
splash.
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flash2
¦ noun Brit. a water-filled hollow formed by subsidence.
Origin
ME (in the sense 'a marshy place'): from OFr. flache, var. of Norman dialect flaque, from MDu. vlacke.