1811. Lexicon Balatronicum (Flash song quoted under flash-panneys).
Next for his favourite mot the kiddey looks about, And if she’s in
a flash-panny he swears he’ll have her out; So he fences all his
togs to buy her duds, and then He frisks his master’s lob to take
her from the bawdy ken.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xvi. (ed. 1840). You know how
little I frequent flash-houses.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 380. Those
troublesome swells, Who come from the play-houses, flash-kens, and
hells.
1840. Macaulay, Essays: ‘Lord Clive.’ The lowest wretches that the
company’s crimps could pick up in the flash-houses of London.
1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 34. That is Mary Black who
keeps the greatest flash house in Leonard Street.
Flash-Cove (also Flash-Companion), subs. (common).—A thief; a sharper;
a fence (q.v.).
1825. E. Kent, Modern Flash Dict. Flash-cove, the keeper of a place
for the reception of stolen goods.
1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 60.—‘Awake! To be sure
I am, my flash-cove!’ replied Sheppard.
Flash-Man, subs. (old).—Primarily a man talking flash (see quots., 1823
and 1862); hence, a rogue, a thief, the landlord of a flash-case
(q.v.). Also a fancy-joseph (for synonyms, see Fancy-man). In America,
a person with no visible means of support, but living in style and
‘showing up’ well.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 141. A flashman is one who
lives on the hackneyed prostitution of an unfortunate woman of the
town.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, II., 1. Soon one is floored upon
the ground. While loud her flashman cries, ‘Arise, my ladybird,
arise!’
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., p. 80. Derived from his
language, and this again has its appellation (’tis suggested) from
the first flash-men being highwaymen, that then generally abounded
(circa 1770). He is the favorite, or protector of a prostitute,
whose flash-man he is; and she is called inversely, his
flash-woman.
c. 1833. Broadside Ballad. My flash-man has gone to sea.
1849. New South Wales, Past, Present, and Future, ch. i., p. 14.
This man was known to Mr. Day to be what is termed a flash-man;
and, seeing his own imminent danger, he instantly spoke to him and
called him a cowardly rascal, and offered to give him shot for
shot, while he was re-loading.
1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. v. You’re playing a
dangerous game, my flashman.
1862. Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, vol. I., pt. 5, ch. i., p.
307. Those articles were sold throughout the country by pedestrian
hawkers, most of whom lived in the wild country called the flash,
from a hamlet of that name situated between Buxton, Leek, and
Macclesfield.... Travelling about from fair to fair, and using a
cant or slang dialect, they became generally known as flash-men,
and the name still survives (to which may be added: They paid, at
first, ready money, but when they had established a credit, paid in
promissory notes which were rarely honored.)
a. 1873. Lyra Flagitiosa. [Quoted in Hotten.] My flash man’s in
quod, And I’m the gal that’s willin’, So I’ll turn out to-night,
And earn an honest shillin’.
Flash of Lightning, subs. phr. (old).—1. A glass of gin; a dram of neat
spirit. See Go and Drinks. Latterly, an ‘American drink.’ See quot.
1862.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 164, s.v.
1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 79. I have not exactly
recovered from the severe effects of the repeated flashes of
lightning and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to
encounter last night.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf (quoted in). But ere they homeward
pik’d it, A flash of lightning was sarv’d round to every one as
lik’d it.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, (ed. 1854), p. 141. The thunders of
eloquence being hushed, flashes of lightning, or, as the vulgar
say, ‘glasses of gin’ gleamed about.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 168. The
stimulant of a flash of lightning ... for so a dram of neat spirit
was then called.
1862. E. MacDermott, Popular Guide to International Exhibition,
1862, p. 185. In the vestibule of each refreshment room there is an
American bar, where visitors may indulge in ... gum-ticklers,
eye-openers, flashes of lightning ... and a variety of similar
beverages.