Flash
(flăsh) A trademark for a file format for graphics, audio, and video data, commonly used for transmitting animation over the internet.
flash
(flăsh)v. flashed, flash·ing, flash·es
v.intr.1. To burst forth into or as if into flame.
2. To give off light or be lighted in sudden or intermittent bursts.
3. To appear or occur suddenly: The image flashed onto the screen.
4. To move or proceed rapidly: The cars flashed by.
5. To hang up a phone line momentarily, as when using call waiting.
6. Slang To think of or remember something suddenly: flashed on that time we got caught in the storm.
7. Slang To expose oneself in an indecent manner.
v.tr.1. a. To cause (light) to appear suddenly or in intermittent bursts.
b. To cause to burst into flame.
c. To reflect (light).
d. To cause to reflect light from (a surface).
2. To make known or signal by flashing lights.
3. To communicate or display at great speed: flashed the news to the world capitals.
4. To exhibit briefly.
5. To hang up (a phone line) momentarily, as when using call waiting.
6. To display ostentatiously; flaunt.
7. To fill suddenly with water.
8. To cover with a thin protective layer.
n.1. A sudden, brief, intense display of light.
2. A sudden perception: a flash of insight.
3. A split second; an instant: I'll be on my way in a flash.
4. A brief news dispatch or transmission.
5. Slang Gaudy or ostentatious display: "The antique flash and trash of an older southern California have given way to a sleeker age of cultural hip" (Newsweek).
6. A flashlight.
7. a. Instantaneous illumination for photography: photograph by flash.
b. A device, such as a flashbulb, flashgun, or flash lamp, used to produce such illumination.
8. Slang The pleasurable sensation that accompanies the use of a drug; a rush.
9. Archaic The language or cant of thieves, tramps, or underworld figures.
adj.1. Happening suddenly or very quickly: flash freezing.
2. Slang Ostentatious; showy: a flash car.
3. Of or relating to figures of quarterly economic growth released by the government and subject to later revision.
4. Of or relating to photography using instantaneous illumination.
5. Computers Of or relating to flash memory.
6. Archaic Of or relating to thieves, swindlers, and underworld figures.
Phrasal Verb: flash back1. To experience a psychological flashback: She suddenly flashed back to the moment when the car hit her.
2. To employ a flashback as a narrative device: In the second chapter, the book flashes back to the protagonist's childhood.
Idiom: flash in the pan One that promises great success but fails.
[Middle English flashen, to splash, variant of flasken, of imitative origin.]
Synonyms: flash, gleam, glint, sparkle, glitter, glisten, glimmer, twinkle, scintillate These verbs mean to send forth light.
Flash refers to a sudden and brilliant but short-lived outburst of light:
A bolt of lightning flashed across the horizon. Gleam implies a transient or subdued light that often appears against a dark background:
"The light gleams an instant, then it's night once more" (Samuel Beckett).
Glint applies to briefly gleaming or flashing light:
"the fountain's silver-painted swan glinted in the moonlight" (Kate Wheeler).
Sparkle suggests a rapid succession of little flashes of high brilliance (
crystal glasses sparkling in the candlelight), and
glitter, a similar succession of even greater intensity (
jewels glittering in the display case). To
glisten is to shine with a sparkling luster:
The snow glistened in the dawn light. Glimmer refers to faint, fleeting light:
"On the French coast the light / Gleams, and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, / Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay" (Matthew Arnold).
To
twinkle is to shine with quick, intermittent flashes or gleams:
"a few stars, twinkling faintly in the deep blue of the night sky" (Hugh Walpole).
Scintillate is applied to what flashes as if emitting sparks in a continuous stream:
"a dense, hoary mist of ammonium chloride ... depositing minute scintillating crystals on the windowpanes" (Primo Levi). See Also Synonyms at
moment.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
flash
(flæʃ) n1. a sudden short blaze of intense light or flame: a flash of sunlight.
2. a sudden occurrence or display, esp one suggestive of brilliance: a flash of understanding.
3. a very brief space of time: over in a flash.
4. an ostentatious display: a flash of her diamonds.
5. (Journalism & Publishing) Also called: newsflash a short news announcement concerning a new event
6. (Military) chiefly Also called: patch Brit an insignia or emblem worn on a uniform, vehicle, etc, to identify its military formation
7. a patch of bright colour on a dark background, such as light marking on an animal
8. (Chemistry) a volatile mixture of inorganic salts used to produce a glaze on bricks or tiles
9. (Nautical Terms)
a. a sudden rush of water down a river or watercourse
b. a device, such as a sluice, for producing such a rush
11. (Metallurgy) a ridge of thin metal or plastic formed on a moulded object by the extrusion of excess material between dies
12. dialect Yorkshire and Lancashire a pond, esp one produced as a consequence of subsidence
13. (modifier) involving, using, or produced by a flash of heat, light, etc: flash blindness; flash distillation.
14. flash in the pan a project, person, etc, that enjoys only short-lived success, notoriety, etc
adj15. informal ostentatious or vulgar
16. informal of or relating to gamblers and followers of boxing and racing
17. sham or counterfeit
18. informal relating to or characteristic of the criminal underworld
19. brief and rapid: flash freezing.
vb20. to burst or cause to burst suddenly or intermittently into flame
21. to emit or reflect or cause to emit or reflect light suddenly or intermittently
22. (intr) to move very fast: he flashed by on his bicycle.
23. (intr) to come rapidly (into the mind or vision)
24. (intr; foll by out or up) to appear like a sudden light: his anger really flashes out at times.
25. a. to signal or communicate very fast: to flash a message.
b. to signal by use of a light, such as car headlights
26. (tr) informal to display ostentatiously: to flash money around.
27. (tr) informal to show suddenly and briefly
28. (intr) slang Brit to expose oneself indecently
29. (Building) (tr) to cover (a roof) with flashing
30. (Nautical Terms) to send a sudden rush of water down (a river, etc), or to carry (a vessel) down by this method
31. (Ceramics) (in the making of glass) to coat (glass) with a thin layer of glass of a different colour
32. (General Physics) (tr) to subject to a brief pulse of heat or radiation
33. (General Physics) (tr) to change (a liquid) to a gas by causing it to hit a hot surface
34. obsolete to splash or dash (water)
[C14 (in the sense: to rush, as of water): of unknown origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
flash
(flæʃ)
n. 1. a brief, sudden burst of bright light.
2. a sudden, brief outburst or display, as of joy or wit.
3. an instant.
5. gaudy or vulgar showiness.
6. a brief dispatch giving preliminary news of an important story.
7. bright artificial light thrown briefly upon a subject during a photographic exposure.
8. the sudden flame or intense heat produced by a bomb or other explosive device.
9. a sudden thought, insight, or vision.
12. Obs. thieves' slang.
v.i. 13. to break forth into sudden flame or light, esp. transiently.
14. to gleam.
15. to appear suddenly.
16. to move like a flash.
17. to speak with sudden anger (often fol. by out).
18. to break into sudden action.
19. Slang. to expose one's genitals in public.
v.t. 20. to emit or send forth (fire or light) in sudden flashes.
21. to cause to flash, as powder by ignition.
22. to send forth like a flash.
23. to communicate instantaneously, as by radio or telegraph.
24. to make an ostentatious display of.
25. to display suddenly and briefly.
26. to increase the flow of water in (a river, channel, etc.).
27. a. to coat (glass or ceramics) with a layer of colored, opalescent, or white glass.
b. to apply (such a layer).
c. to color or make (glass) opaque by reheating.
28. to protect (a roof, etc.) from leakage with flashing.
adj. 29. sudden and brief: a flash storm.
30. showy; ostentatious.
31. belonging to or connected with thieves.
Idioms: 1. flash in the pan, a. a brief intense effort that produces negligible results.
b. a person whose promise or success is transitory.
2. flash on, Slang. to have a sudden vivid memory of or insight about.
[1350–1400; Middle English: to sprinkle, splash]
flash′er, n.
flash′ing•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.