Limning and flashing it with various dyes.
A. Brewer.
5. [Perh. due to confusion between flash of light and plash, splash.]
To strike and throw up large bodies of water from the surface; to
splash. [Obs.]
He rudely flashed the waves about.
Spenser.
Flashed glass. See Flashing, n., 3.
Flash, n.; pl. Flashes (&?;). 1. A sudden burst of light; a flood of
light instantaneously appearing and disappearing; a momentary blaze;
as, a flash of lightning.
2. A sudden and brilliant burst, as of wit or genius; a momentary
brightness or show.
The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind.
Shak.
No striking sentiment, no flash of fancy.
Wirt.
3. The time during which a flash is visible; an instant; a very brief
period.
The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash.
Bacon.
4. A preparation of capsicum, burnt sugar, etc., for coloring and
giving a fictitious strength to liquors.
Flash light, or Flashing light, a kind of light shown by lighthouses,
produced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of
light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight.
-- Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a
flintlock musket without discharging the piece; hence, sudden,
spasmodic effort that accomplishes nothing.
Flash, a. 1. Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar;
as, flash jewelry; flash finery.
2. Wearing showy, counterfeit ornaments; vulgarly pretentious; as,
flash people; flash men or women; -- applied especially to thieves,
gamblers, and prostitutes that dress in a showy way and wear much cheap
jewelry.
Flash house, a house frequented by flash people, as thieves and whores;
hence, a brothel. "A gang of footpads, reveling with their favorite
beauties at a flash house." Macaulay.
Flash, n. Slang or cant of thieves and prostitutes.
Flash, n. [OE. flasche, flaske; cf. OF. flache, F. flaque.] 1. A pool.
[Prov. Eng.] Haliwell.
2. (Engineering) 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.
Flash wheel (Mech.), a paddle wheel made to revolve in a breast or
curved water way, by which water is lifted from the lower to the higher
level.
Flash"board` (?), n. A board placed temporarily upon a milldam, to
raise the water in the pond above its usual level; a flushboard. [U.S.]
Flash"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, flashes.