FLASH

brassy, cheap, flash, flashy, garish, gaudy, gimcrack, loud, meretricious, tacky, tatty, tawdry, trashy

(adjective) tastelessly showy; “a flash car”; “a flashy ring”; “garish colors”; “a gaudy costume”; “loud sport shirts”; “a meretricious yet stylish book”; “tawdry ornaments”

flash, photoflash, flash lamp, flashgun, flashbulb, flash bulb

(noun) a lamp for providing momentary light to take a photograph

flash

(noun) a bright patch of color used for decoration or identification; “red flashes adorned the airplane”; “a flash sewn on his sleeve indicated the unit he belonged to”

flash

(noun) a momentary brightness

flash

(noun) a sudden brilliant understanding; “he had a flash of intuition”

flare, flash

(noun) a burst of light used to communicate or illuminate

ostentation, fanfare, flash

(noun) a gaudy outward display

flash, flashing

(noun) a short vivid experience; “a flash of emotion swept over him”; “the flashings of pain were a warning”

flash

(noun) a sudden intense burst of radiant energy

flash

(verb) appear briefly; “The headlines flashed on the screen”

flash

(verb) emit a brief burst of light; “A shooting star flashed and was gone”

flash

(verb) make known or cause to appear with great speed; “The latest intelligence is flashed to all command posts”

flash

(verb) protect by covering with a thin sheet of metal; “flash the roof”

dart, dash, scoot, scud, flash, shoot

(verb) run or move very quickly or hastily; “She dashed into the yard”

flash

(verb) expose or show briefly; “he flashed a $100 bill”

flaunt, flash, show off, ostentate, swank

(verb) display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously; “he showed off his new sports car”

flash, blink, wink, twinkle, winkle

(verb) gleam or glow intermittently; “The lights were flashing”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Verb

flash (third-person singular simple present flashes, present participle flashing, simple past and past participle flashed)

(transitive) To cause to shine briefly or intermittently.

(intransitive) To blink; to shine or illuminate intermittently.

(intransitive) To be visible briefly.

(transitive) To make visible briefly.

(ambitransitive, informal) To briefly, and often unintentionally, expose one's naked body or underwear, or part of it, in public. (Contrast streak.)

(transitive, informal) To show or expose an "inappropriate" part of the body to someone for humorous reasons or as an act of contempt.

(figurative) To break forth like a sudden flood of light; to show a momentary brilliance.

To flaunt; to display in a showy manner.

To communicate quickly.

To move, or cause to move, suddenly.

(transitive) To telephone a person, only allowing the phone to ring once, in order to request a call back.

(intransitive, of liquid) To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.)

(transitive, climbing) To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt.

(transitive, computing) To write to the memory of (an updatable component such as a BIOS chip or games cartridge).

(transitive, glassmaking) To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour.

(transitive, glassmaking) To expand (blown glass) into a disc.

(transitive) To send by some startling or sudden means.

(intransitive) To burst out into violence.

(juggling) To perform a flash.

(metallurgy) To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.

(transitive, obsolete) To trick up in a showy manner.

(transitive, obsolete) To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash.

Synonyms

• (to briefly illuminate): glint

• (telephoning): beep

Noun

flash (plural flashes)

A sudden, short, temporary burst of light.

A very short amount of time.

(colloquial, US) A flashlight; an electric torch.

(figuratively) A sudden and brilliant burst, as of genius or wit.

Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.

(Britain, 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.

(linguistics) A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class.

(photography) Clipping of camera flash.

(archaic) A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc, for colouring liquor to make it look stronger.

(military) A form of military insignia.

Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala.

A tattoo flash.

The sudden sensation of being "high" after taking a recreational drug.

(dated) A newsflash.

Synonyms

• (burst of light): gleam, glint

• (material left around the edge of a mould): moulding flash, molding flash

Antonyms

• (very short amount of time): aeon

Hypernyms

• (burst of light): light

Adjective

flash (comparative more flash, superlative most flash)

(British and New Zealand, slang) Expensive-looking and demanding attention; stylish; showy.

(UK, of a person) Having plenty of ready money.

(UK, of a person) Liable to show off expensive possessions or money.

(US, slang) Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously.

(slang, obsolete) Relating to thieves and vagabonds.

Etymology 2

Noun

flash (plural flashes)

A pool.

(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.

Anagrams

• halfs

Etymology

Proper noun

Flash

(computing) A multimedia platform, most often used for adding animation and interactivity to webpages.

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

Anagrams

• halfs

Source: Wiktionary


Flash, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flashed; p. pr. & vb. n. Flashing.] Etym: [Cf. OE. flaskien, vlaskien to pour, sprinkle, dial. Sw. flasa to blaze, E. flush, flare.]

1. To burst or break forth with a sudden and transient flood of flame and light; as, the lighting flashes vividly; the powder flashed.

2. To break forth, as a sudden flood of light; to burst instantly and brightly on the sight; to show a momentary brilliancy; to come or pass like a flash. Names which have flashed and thundered as the watch words of unumbered struggles. Talfourd. The object is made to flash upon the eye of the mind. M. Arnold. A thought floashed through me, which I clothed in act. Tennyson.

3. To burst forth like a sudden flame; to break out violently; to rush hastily. Every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other. Shak. To flash in the pan, to fail of success. [Colloq.] See under Flash, a burst of light. Bartlett.

Syn.

– Flash, Glitter, Gleam, Glisten, Glister. Flash differs from glitter and gleam, denoting a flood or wide extent of light. The latter words may express the issuing of light from a small object, or from a pencil of rays. Flash differs from other words, also, in denoting suddenness of appearance and disappearance. Flashing differs from exploding or disploding in not being accompanied with a loud report. To glisten, or glister, is to shine with a soft and fitful luster, as eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew.

Flash, v. t.

1. To send out in flashes; to cause to burst forth with sudden flame or light. The chariot of paternal Deity, Flashing thick flames. Milton.

2. To convey as by a flash; to light up, as by a sudden flame or light; as, to flash a message along the wires; to flash conviction on the mind.

3. (Glass Making)

Definition: To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different color. See Flashing, n., 3 (b).

4. To trick up in a showy manner. Limning and flashing it with various dyes. A. Brewer.

5. Etym: [Perh. due to confusion between flash of light and plash, splash.]

Definition: To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to splash. [Obs.] He rudely flashed the waves about. Spenser. Flashed glass. See Flashing, n., 3.

Flash, n.; pl. Flashes (.

1. A sudden burst of light; a flood of light instantaneously appearing and disappearing; a momentary blaze; as, a flash of lightning.

2. A sudden and brilliant burst, as of wit or genius; a momentary brightness or show. The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind. Shak. No striking sentiment, no flash of fancy. Wirt.

3. The time during which a flash is visible; an instant; a very brief period. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. Bacon.

4. A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for coloring and giving a fictious strength to liquors. Flash light, or Flashing light, a kind of light shown by lighthouses, produced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight.

– Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket without discharging the piece; hence, sudden, spasmodic effort that accomplishes nothing.

Flash, a.

1. Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as, flash jewelry; flash finery.

2. Wearing showy, counterfeit ornaments; vulgarly pretentious; as, flash people; flash men or women; -- applied especially to thieves, gamblers, and prostitutes that dress in a showy way and wear much cheap jewelry. Flash house, a house frequented by flash people, as thieves and whores; hence, a brothel. "A gang of footpads, reveling with their favorite beauties at a flash house." Macaulay.

Flash, n.

Definition: Slang or cant of thieves and prostitutes.

Flash, n. Etym: [OE. flasche, flaske; cf. OF. flache, F. flaque.]

1. A pool. [Prov. Eng.] Haliwell.

2. (Engineering)

Definition: 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. Flash wheel (Mech.), a paddle wheel made to revolve in a breast or curved water way, by which water is lifted from the lower to the higher level.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

24 December 2024

INTUITIVELY

(adverb) in an intuitive manner; “inventors seem to have chosen intuitively a combination of explosive and aggressive sounds as warning signals to be used on automobiles”


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