flash

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   tastelessly showy

   a flash car

2. 2
   noun

   a bright patch of color used for decoration or identification

   red flashes adorned the airplane

3. 3
   noun

   a sudden brilliant understanding

   We had a flash of intuition when we finally realized how electricity flows from two terminal ends.

4. 4
   noun

   a short vivid experience

   a flash of emotion swept over him

5. 5
   noun

   a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)

   if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash

6. 6
   verb

   appear briefly

   The headlines flashed on the screen

7. 7
   verb

   emit a brief burst of light

   A shooting star flashed and was gone

8. 8
   verb

   make known or cause to appear with great speed

   The latest intelligence is flashed to all command posts

Etymology

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.