flash

verb flashes · flashing · flashed

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.

   Similar: glint

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.
5. ambitransitive, informal To expose one's intimate body part or undergarment, often momentarily and unintentionally. (Contrast streak.) She flashed a vocalist at a rock concert.
6. figuratively 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 completio
7. To flaunt; to display in a showy manner. He flashed a wad of hundred-dollar bills.
8. To show a gang sign or similar hand gesture. I knew he was serious when he flashed a Bloods sign.
9. To communicate quickly. The news services flashed the news about the end of the war to all corners of the globe.
10. To move, or cause to move, suddenly. Flash forward to the present day.
11. dated, 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.
12. intransitive, of liquid To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.)
13. transitive To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt.
14. transitive 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.
15. transitive To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour.
16. transitive To expand (blown glass) into a disc.
17. transitive To send by some startling or sudden means.
18. intransitive To burst out into violence.
19. To perform a flash.
20. To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
21. obsolete, transitive 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: […]
22. obsolete, transitive 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 armou
23. To flash back. Kevin, one of the first buddies in Boston lies calmly, very thin in the casket. I think of his face angrily making a point at a meeting or happily hosting his Christmas party. I flash to my father's wake and the "well-meaning" people who whispered about how awful he looked as I stood by watching, wa

Similar: beep

noun flashes

1. countable, uncountable A sudden, short, temporary burst of light. Between 8 and 9 p.m., the recorder at a meteorological station at Harrow, Middlesex, picked up 1,470 lightning flashes within a radius of 10 to 15 miles, and observers at the station described the storm as "probably one of the most spectacular of the century."

   Similar: gleam, glint

2. countable, uncountable 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, Ge

   Similar: instant, jiffy, twinkle, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, glimpse, half a mo, jiff · Opposite: aeon, spell, age, ages, blue moon, coon's age, crow's age, dog's age, donkey's years, eld, eon, eternity

3. US, colloquial, countable, uncountable A flashlight; an electric torch. I reached a flash out of my car pocket and went down-grade and looked at the car.
4. countable, figuratively, uncountable 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.
5. figuratively, uncountable Pizzazz, razzle-dazzle. Above all, they hate flash. Just as the English working class has always been, they are fiercely puritanical and abhor all forms of display.

   Similar: elan, flair

6. countable, uncountable Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.

   Similar: moulding flash, molding flash

7. Cockney, UK, countable, uncountable The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders.
8. countable, uncountable A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once.
9. countable, uncountable A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class.
10. abbreviation, clipping, countable, uncountable Clipping of camera flash (“a device used to produce a flash of artificial light to help illuminate a scene”).
11. archaic, countable, uncountable A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for colouring liquor to make it look stronger.
12. countable, uncountable A form of military insignia. I just got my first commando flash.
13. abbreviation, clipping, 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. countable, uncountable Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala.
15. countable, uncountable A tattoo flash (example design on paper to give an idea of a possible tattoo).
16. countable, uncountable 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.
17. countable, uncountable 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.

    Similar: flashback

18. countable, dated, uncountable A newsflash. The United Press got the flash "Germans declare martial law in Ruhr" […]
19. countable, uncountable 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.
20. countable, uncountable The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public. panty flash
21. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of hook flash

adjective more flash · most flash

1. Australia, British, 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;
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?
4. US, slang Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously.
5. obsolete, slang Relating to thieves and vagabonds. the flash language: thieves' cant or slang

noun flashes

1. A pool of water, in some areas especially one that is marshy, and/or one formed by subsidence of the ground due to mining. (Compare flush (“marsh; pool”).) their hearts lie lumpish as a Log that lies in a flash of water seven years together
2. 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.

proper noun

1. A multimedia platform, most often used for adding animation and interactivity to webpages. Your Web site doesn't have to be full of the latest dropdowns, rollovers, superslick graphics, or Flash videos.

proper noun Flash · the Flash

1. Any of various DC Comics superheroes who have the power of superspeed, derived from an energy called the Speed Force.