Word.ws English Dictionary

flash

/flæʃ/

flash verb: to cause to shine briefly or intermittently. Also the clipping of camera flash.

flash: to cause to shine briefly or intermittently
Image: Hani.md, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

flash (third-person singular simple present flashes, present participle flashing, simple past and past participle 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.
    • Eugenie's quick apprehensions seized the foul thought. Her eyes flashed—her cheek crimsoned.1841, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XIII, in Night and Morning […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    glint
  3. (intransitive) To be visible briefly.
    • The scenery flashed by quickly.
    • Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 52
  4. (transitive) To make visible briefly.
    • A number will be flashed on the screen.
    • The special agents flashed their badges as they entered the building.
  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.
    • Her skirt was so short that she flashed her underpants as she was getting out of her car.
  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...1845, Thomas [Noon] Talfourd, Report of the Proceedings Connected with the Grant Soirée of the Manchester Athenæum, Held on Thursday, October 23rd, 1845. From the Manchester Guardian of Saturday...
    • But while he jested thus, / A thought flashed through me, which I clothed in act. / Remembering how we three presented Maid, / Or Nymph, or Goddess, at high tide of feast, / In masque or pageant at my father's court.1851, Alfred Tennyson, “The Princess: A Medley”, in Poems by Alfred Tennyson. In Two Volumes, new edition, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, page 163
  7. To flaunt; to display in a showy manner.
    • He flashed a wad of hundred-dollar bills.
    1. (African-American Vernacular) To show a gang sign or similar hand gesture.
      • I knew he was serious when he flashed a Bloods sign.
  8. To communicate quickly.
    • The news services flashed the news about the end of the war to all corners of the globe.
    • to flash a message along the telephone wires; to flash conviction on the mind
  9. To move, or cause to move, suddenly.
    • Flash forward to the present day.
    • ⁠Deep folly! yet that this could be—
      ⁠That I could wing my will with might
      ⁠To leap the grades of life and light,
      And flash at once, my friend, to thee: […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62
  10. (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.
  11. (intransitive) To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.)
  12. (transitive) To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt.
Show 10 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour.
  3. (transitive) To expand (blown glass) into a disc.
  4. (transitive) To send by some startling or sudden means.
  5. (intransitive) To burst out into violence.
  6. To perform a flash.
  7. To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel.
  8. (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: […]1607, Antony Brewer [attributed; now generally believed to be by Thomas Tomkis], Lingua: Or, The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Comedy (A Select Collection of Old Plays...
  9. (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...1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, London: Printed for W[illiam] Ponsonbie, OCLC 18024649, book II, canto VI, stanza XLII...
  10. 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...1988 February 14, Marea Murray, “Friction Between The Factions”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 11

Noun (1)

flash (countable and uncountable, plural flashes)

  1. 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."1958 November, “Storm Damage in the Home Counties”, in Railway Magazine, page 746
    Synonyms:
    gleam, glint
  2. 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...1680, Francis Bacon, “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St Alban. With a Table of the Colours of...
    • 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, 1st American edition, Hartford, Conn.; Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Oh.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 164
  3. (US, colloquial) A flashlight; an electric torch.
    • I reached a flash out of my car pocket and went down-grade and looked at the car.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, OCLC 747046957; republished London: Penguin Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-241-95628-1, page 34
  4. (figuratively) 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.1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London...
    • I cannot learn that he [Patrick Henry] gave, in his youth, any evidence of that precocity which sometimes distinguishes uncommon genius. His companions recollect no instance of premature wit, no striking sentiment, no flash of fancy, no remarkable beauty or strength of expression; and no...1817, William Wirt (Attorney General), “section I”, in Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry, Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by James Webster, No. 10, S. Eighth Street. William Brown...
  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.1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • Another pleasant surprise of She-Devil is director Susan Seidelman's infusion of political moxie into the movie, a departure from her tendency to dish out lots of flash with little substance.1989 December 24, Elizabeth Pincus, “Screwball Glitz And Revolt Against Misogyny”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 24, page 16
    Synonyms:
    elan, flair
  6. Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould.
  7. (Cockney, UK) The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders.
  8. A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once.
  9. A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class.
  10. (archaic) A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for colouring liquor to make it look stronger.
  11. A form of military insignia.
    • I just got my first commando flash.
  12. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala.
Show 6 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A tattoo flash (example design on paper to give an idea of a possible tattoo).
  2. 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.1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem
    • A few seconds following the injection, the user experiences a sudden, intense generalized sensation which has both physiological and psychological characteristics. […] pure, commercially produced products do not give a good flash […]1973, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, Proper and Improper Use of Drugs by Athletes: Hearings, page 645
  3. 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.2021, Glenn Petersen, War and the Arc of Human Experience, page 129
    Synonyms:
    flashback
  4. (dated) A newsflash.
    • The United Press got the flash "Germans declare martial law in Ruhr" […]1931, George Seldes, Can These Things Be!, volume 25, page 274
  5. 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.2015 October 27, Tim O'Rourke, Flashes, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN
    • Gabriel grabbed her wrist and spun her around, stepping forward right in her face, showing a brief flash of fangs this time. “Not good enough. I can haul you over my shoulder if that's the way it has to be.” “I'd almost like to see you[…]2017 June 29, Ally Shields, Embers of Fire, Etopia Press, →ISBN
  6. The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public.
    • panty flash
    • […] the answer came to her. Camera flashes. That strobing light had been the flash of a camera. Icy panic poured through her body. She had a vision of Janet Jackson's boob flash at the Super Bowl;[…]2005 September 1, Lisa Cach, Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 256

Adjective

flash (comparative more flash, superlative 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;1892, Banjo Paterson, The Man from Ironbark
  2. (UK) Having plenty of ready money.
  3. (UK) Liable to show off expensive possessions or money.
    • Bit of a flash git, don't you think?1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1
  4. (US, slang) Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously.
  5. (obsolete, slang) Relating to thieves and vagabonds.
    • the flash language: thieves' cant or slang
    • flash notes: counterfeit banknotes

Noun (2)

flash (plural 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 togethera. 1646, Jeremiah Burroughs, The Excellency of Holy Courage in Evil Times
    • The […] woods, commons, ponds, 'flashes,' bogs, 'damp spots,' and ditches are, when the number and rarity of some of the species are taken into account, the richest botanical ground in Lincolnshire;1895, The Naturalist, , page 232
  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) capitalized: Flash

Flash

  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.2007, Ray Foley, Heather Dismore, Running a Bar for Dummies, page 273
    • Flash games are ever so popular on the Web. As the capabilities of the Flash Player continue to improve, better and more powerful games can be built.2012, Adrian Dobre, Dev Ramtal, Physics for Flash Games, Animation, and Simulations, page 4

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Flash

Flash or the Flash

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

Also used as

flash is also the clipping of camera flash.

flash is also the clipping of flash memory.

flash is also the ellipsis of hook flash.

flash meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam

flash in Tamil

to blink
மின்னு miṉṉu
to be visible briefly
மின்னு miṉṉu

flash in Marathi

फ्लॅश करण्यासाठी

flash in Bengali

ফ্ল্যাশ করতে, ফ্ল্যাশ করার জন্য

flash in Malayalam

ഫ്ലാഷ് ചെയ്യാൻ
More languagesFewer languages
flash in Punjabi
ਫਲੈਸ਼ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਫ਼ਲੈਸ਼ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
flash in Gujarati
ફ્લેશ કરવા માટે, ફ્લેશ કરવા
flash in Odia
ଫ୍ଲାଶ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
flash in Nepali
फ्ल्यास गर्न, फ्ल्यास गर्नाका लागि, फ्ल्यास गर्नका लागि
flash in Persian
تکزنگ زدن tak-zang zadan, فلاش felâš, برق barq

Examples of flash in a sentence

  • She flashed me a smile from the car window.
  • From the knees, the legs are, alternately, dropped a few inches and then flashed upwards again.1879, Sid. G. Hedges, The Boy's Own Paper, volume 45, Leisure House Office, page 66:
  • But they survived some real pressure as David Murphy flashed a header inches wide of Rob Green's right-hand post[…].2011 January 11, Jonathan Stevenson, “West Ham 2 – 1 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2016:
  • I flash to my father's wake and the "well-meaning" people who whispered about how awful he looked as I stood by watching, wanting to scream "What did you expect?"1988 February 14, Marea Murray, “Friction Between The Factions”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 11:
  • The Perſians and Macedonians had it for a flaſh.1680, Francis Bacon, “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates”, in The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Sir Francis Bacon...

All 40 example sentences with flash

Synonyms of flash

27 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of flash

Forms of flash

Verb
third-person singular presentflashes
present participleflashing
past participleflashed
pastflashed
Noun
pluralflashes
Adjective
comparativemore flash
superlativemost flash

Past tense of flash: flashed

Plural of flash: flashes

Origin of flash

In some senses, from Middle English flasshen, a variant of flasken, flaskien (“to sprinkle, splash”), which was likely of imitative origin; in other senses probably of North Germanic origin akin to Swedish dialectal flasa (“to burn brightly, blaze”), related to flare. Compare also Icelandic flasa (“to rush, go hastily”).

From Middle English flashe, flaske, also found as flosche and flushe (whence modern English flosh and flush), used in Middle and modern English for bodies of water with varying emphasis on them being "pools" or "marshes". It is not entirely clear whether these constitute a single term with varied spellings, or have distinct etymologies. The form flash, flashe is often suggested to be from Old French flache, French flaque, which is of Germanic origin, akin to Middle Dutch vlacke (“an estuary, flats with stagnant pools”). See flush for more on that form.

From flash.

Words formed from flash

Phrases with flash

75 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with flash

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about flash

What does flash mean?
Flash means to cause to shine briefly or intermittently.
What is flash in Tamil?
Flash in Tamil is மின்னு (miṉṉu). See Flash meaning in Tamil.
How do you use flash in a sentence?
She flashed me a smile from the car window.
What part of speech is flash?
Flash can be a verb, a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce flash?
Flash is pronounced /flæʃ/.
What is the past tense of flash?
The past tense of flash is flashed.

Words near flash in the dictionary

  1. flary
  2. Flasby
  3. Flasby with Winterburn
  4. flaser
  5. flasers
  6. flash
  7. flash around
  8. flash back
  9. flash bang
  10. flash bangs
  11. flash boiler

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flash (page history and authors); Flash (page history and authors); flash (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); flash (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flash.ogg, en-au-flash.ogg.

Cite this entry: “flash.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flash. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.