flash
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
See also Flash
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From the Middle English word flashen (to splash), a variant of flasken, which was likely of imitative origin.
[edit] Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: flash (one syllable)
- Rhymes: -æʃ
- Audio (US)help, file
[edit] Verb
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Infinitive |
Third person singular |
Simple past |
Past participle |
Present participle |
to 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 in public briefly.
- (metallurgy) To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
- (juggling) to perform a flash.
[edit] Synonyms
- (to briefly illuminate): glint
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
- flush (possibly)
[edit] See also
[edit] Translations
briefly illuminate a scene
be visible briefly
make visible briefly
expose one's naked body briefly in public
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
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.
[edit] Synonyms
- (sudden, short, temporary burst of light): gleam, glint
- (material left around the egde of a mould): moulding flash, molding flash
[edit] Antonyms
- (very short amount of time): aeon
[edit] Hypernyms
- (sudden, short, temporary burst of light): light
[edit] Derived terms
- flashy
- camera flash
- flash flood
- flash memory
- flash photography
- flash point
- flash in the pan
- in a flash
- quick as a flash
- flashbulb
[edit] See also
[edit] 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.
Translations to be checked
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[edit] Adjective
flash (comparative more flash, superlative most flash)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- (British and New Zealand, slang) Expensive looking and attention worthy.
- (British, of a person) Having plenty of ready money
[edit] Translations
expensive looking and attention worthy
[edit] References
- “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.