flashes

Noun

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...

   Synonyms:

   instant, jiffy, twinkle, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, glimpse, half a mo

   Antonyms:

   aeon, spell, age, ages, blue moon, coon's age, crow's age, dog's age, donkey's years, eld

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...
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

   Synonyms:

   elan, flair

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

   Synonyms:

   moulding flash, molding flash

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