Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Flash |
FlashAdjective1. Tastelessly showy; "a flash car"; "a flashy ring"; "garish colors"; "a gaudy costume"; "loud sport shirts"; "a meretricious yet stylish book"; "tawdry ornaments". Noun1. A sudden intense burst of radiant energy. 2. A momentary brightness. 3. A short vivid experience; "a flash of emotion swept over him"; "the flashings of pain were a warning". 4. A sudden brilliant understanding; "he had a flash of intuition". 5. A very short time (as the time it takes to blink once); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash". 6. A burst of light used to communicate or illuminate. 7. A short news announcement concerning some on-going news story. 8. A lamp for providing momentary light to take a photograph. Verb1. Gleam or glow intermittently; "The lights were flashing". 2. Appear briefly; "The headlines flashed on the screen". 3. Display proudly; act ostentatiously or pretentiously. 4. Make known or cause to appear with great speed; "The latest intelligence is flashed to all command posts". 5. Run or move very quickly or hastily; "She dashed into the yard". 6. Expose or show briefly; "he flashed a $100 bill". 7. Protect by covering with a thin sheet of metal, as of parts of roofs. 8. Emit a brief burst of light; "A shooting star flashed and was gone.". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "flash" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Flash |
Business | En "marketing": étiquette fixée sur un produit et annonçant une aubaine, un rabais, etc. Source: European Union. (references) |
Chemistry | A thin electro-deposited coating, produced in a short time. Source: European Union. (references) |
Electrical Engineering | A non-volatile programmable semiconductor memory product. Source: European Union. (references) |
Fine Arts | A first brief news report. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Very short scene. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Industry | A rough edge, especially of a drilled hole or the like; a fin is a ridge left on a casting at the junction of the parts of a mould. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A thin projection on the surface or edge; usually produced by penetration of glass into the jont of the mould. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Literature | Flash A mere flash in the pan. All sound and fury, signifying nothing; like the attempt to discharge a gun that ends with a flash in the lock-pan, the gun itself "hanging fire." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Medicine | The immediate effects of the intravenous injection of amphetamines are a sudden, overwhelming pleasurable rush or flash which has been described by users as "an instant total body orgasm". Source: European Union. (references) |
Occupations | The ridge or line of excess material left on metal or plastic objects along the parting or closing line of mold. Also known as fin. (references) |
Public Administration | A flame which occurs with explosive type of combustion and travels in a definite direction. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A flame of very short duration. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Slang in 1811 | FLASH. Knowing. Understanding another's meaning. The swell was flash, so I could not draw his fogle. The gentleman saw what I was about, and therefore I could not pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief. To patter flash, to speak the slang language. See FLASH. A periwig. Rum flash; a fine long wig. Queer flash; a miserable weather-beaten caxon. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Transportation | A relatively brief appearance of a light, in comparison with the longest interval of darkness in the same character. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
See:This is a disambiguation page; that is, one that just points to other pages that might otherwise have the same name. If you followed a link here, you might want to go back and fix that link to point to the appropriate specific page.
- Macromedia Flash animation program
- Flash memory
- Flash for photography.
- The Flash DC comics and characters
- Flash (telecommunication)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Flash."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A photographic flash is a device that produces a flash of light required for indoor or other low light conditions.The earliest flashes consisted of a wad of magnesium powder that was ignited by hand. Later, magnesium filaments were contained in flash bulbs, and electrically ignited by a contact in the camera shutter; such a bulb could only be used once, and was too hot to handle immediately after use, but the confinement of what would otherwise have amounted to a small explosion was an important advance.
For the Kodak Instamatic camera, flash cubes of 4 bulbs were introduced, that allowed taking 4 images in a row as the cube automatically rotated 90 degrees to a fresh bulb upon firing. The later Magicube was noteworthy in that each bulb was set off by a plastic pin striking a pyrotechnic element in the flash, so that a battery was not required.
Today's flash units are often electronic. An electronic flash contains a tube filled with xenon gas, where electricity of high voltage is discharged to generate an electrical arc that emits a short flash of light. (A typical duration of the light impulse is 1/1000 second.) As of 2003, the majority of cameras targeted for consumer use have an electronic flash unit built in.
A separate flash unit may usually be mounted to a camera via a standardised accessory mount bracket.
See also: Flash synchronization
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Flash (photo)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Flash memory is a form of EEPROM that allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. Normal EEPROM only allows one location at a time to be erased or written. All types of flash memory and EEPROM wear out after a certain number of erase operations.
Flash memory is made in two forms: NOR flash and NAND flash. The names refer to the type of logic gate used in each storage cell. NOR flash was the first type to be developed, and was invented by Intel in 1988. It has long erase and write times, but has a full address/data (memory) interface that allows random access to any location. This makes it suitable for storage of program code that needs to be infrequently updated, as in digital cameras and PDAss. Its endurance is 10,000 to 100,000 erase cycles. NAND flash from Toshiba followed in 1989. It has shorter erase and write times, higher density and lower cost per bit than NOR flash, and ten times the endurance, but its I/O interface allows only sequential access to data. This makes it suitable for mass-storage devices such as PC cardss and various memory cards like Compact Flash and Secure Digital media.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Flash memory."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Macromedia Flash is a vector graphics based graphics animation program by Macromedia. The resulting files, sometimes called "flash files", may be included in a web page to view in a web browser, or they may be played on a standalone player.
Pros and Cons
Advantages
The Macromedia Flash file format has several advantages over "regular" HTML pages that make it an extremely popular option for professional web site creation:In Flash MX, the ActionScript language has been extended to the proposed ECMA Script 4 standard and can be used to create extensive event driven GUI's. Flash MX 2004 introduced ActionScript 2.0, which features strong types, interfaces, inheritance and other features of advanced object-oriented programming languages.
- Like PostScript, SVG and PDF, Flash allows exact specification of where the various page elements are, and so it gives the designer a great degree of control over how the user interface looks. In some people's opinions, it is much more difficult to do the same with HTML and CSS.
- Again, like PostScript, SVG and PDF Flash uses vector graphics; they may translate into small file sizes which take less bandwidth to transmit than bitmaps do.
- The Flash file format has been opened by Macromedia, and compatible third-party tools exist.
- Flash's file format is not platform-dependent; players exist on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux and various other Unix systems.
- Flash allows the embedding of images, sounds, movies and simple HTML files. These abilities make it a good multimedia platform. Flash Player 6 supports also two-way streaming of sound and video, thus being an excellent platform for high-level multi-user applications.
- Flash's embedded ActionScript language (an application of the ECMAScript programming language) allows the creation of simple fill-in-the-blank forms.
- Flash is a highly ubiquitous format. According to Macromedia, the Flash Player penetration is well over 95%. Flash Players exist for PDAs, cellular phones and even for the Java platform.
Macromedia has stated their intention of moving Flash away from the simple animations of web ad banners and move toward true application development.
Disadvantages
There are also some disadvantages to Flash:
- Viewer plugins don't exist for all systems, officially only for; Linux, Windows, Mac, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS2, and Irix platforms. Oliver Debon wrote an open source version of the Flash 3 player and it has been ported to just about every OS including the Amiga.
- The Flash Player is not installed on all computers.
- Because the flash movie is played from a user agent plug-in, limited memory resources are availlable to the flash-movie. This is the amount of memory the user agent allocates for the plugin. This amount depends on the user agent used.
- Though the flash file format is ostensibly "open", it is still controlled by Macromedia and not based upon a truly open standard such as SVG, which reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support it. The Macromedia player can not be shipped as part of a pure open source operating system.
- Due to Flash's graphical nature, it does not degrade gracefully to disabled users. It is possible to overcome this only by providing alternative content (for example in HTML). See also accessibility.
- Flash does not support internationalization thoroughly.
- Flash demands significant CPU power to display, as it uses a very high degree of graphic abstraction that many video cards are not able to accelerate. Particularily, the anti-aliasing utilized by the Flash Player is heavy on the computer.
- The browser plug-in may store and retrieve information on the user's computer, acting much like HTTP cookies and with similar advantages and disadvantages, but without the common ability to restrict this saving of information, which browsers provide for cookies.
- Although this has never been an actual problem, the plug-in has had security flaws which theoretically may open up a computer to remote attack (e.g., see [1] and [1] for a December 2002 problem).
- Critics charge that many Flash animations are nothing more than eye candy, and many users say that they are ugly.
- The .swf files it makes aren't secure. There are several commercial programs out there that can allow someone to extract graphics, sounds, etc. from a .swf file and also view its ActionScript. There's even an open source program called flasm that allows someone to extract ActionScript from a .swf file as "bytecode", edit it, and then reinsert it into the file. However, the swf obfuscation makes the extraction not feasible in most cases.
- Flash does not respect browser esettings which prevent animation from displaying, one reason why it is commonly used for animated ads.
In Flash MX 2004, the latest releases, several of the disadvantages have been addressed. See http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html for a discussion of Flash and usability.
Controlling Flash
Attempts to download and install Flash can be prevented by adding http://download.macromedia.com to the Restricted Sites security zone in Internet Explorer or by blocking access to that site in other ways.
Saving the following text to a file called noflash.reg and double-clicking on it will turn off Flash support in Internet Explorer, by adding Flash to the list of ActiveX controls the system administrator deems a security problem:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\ActiveX Compatibility\\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Description"="prevents Macromedia Flash from running when flags are 00000400"
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000400
Saving this to flashon.reg and double-clicking on it will remove the block.
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Internet Explorer\\ActiveX Compatibility\\{D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}]
"Description"="this prevents Macromedia Flash from running when flags are 00000400"
"Compatibility Flags"=dword:00000000
There are exactly four lines in each of these, starting with REGEDIT4 and ending with Compatibility Flags. Use copy and paste to get them exactly as written and avoid the possible effect of line wrapping which can prevent them from working properly.
Combining these steps will let you turn off Flash animated ads and requests to install most of the time, choosing to install it or let it run only when you encounter one of the rare sites which can't be used without Flash.
It's possible to block Macromedia Shockwave with similar files, replacing {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} with {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} .
Competition
In October of 1998 Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification to the world on its website in response to many new, and often semi open, competing formats to SWF such as; XARA's Flare and Sharp's Extended Vector Animation formats. Several developers quickly created a C library for producing SWF. In Feburary of 1999 MorphInk 99 was launched, the first non-Macromedia, or third party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired Middlesoft to create a freely avialble developers kit for the SWF file format versions 3-5. Many open and free libraries based on the information released to the public in 1998 and from later study of the SWF file Format, such as Ming, exist to produce SWF files on many platforms. The Flash Files specification for version 6 and later is avaialble from Macromedia only as a PDF under a NDA agreement.Many Shareware companies produced Flash creation tools and sold them for under $50 USD between 2000-2002. In 2003 competition and the emergence of Free Flash Creation tools, most notably Open Office, had driven many third party flash creation tool makers out of the market allowing the remaining makers to raise thier prices, although many of the products remain under $100 USD and support Action Script.
In November of 2003 Microsoft announced that it was working on a Flash-killer product, Sparkle, whose release would coincide with that of their next-generation Windows OS codenamed Longhorn. The purchase of Creature House Inc's assets in September of 2003 has lead to speculation that their Expression graphics engine would form the basis for the Sparkle product.
File Types
Later versions of Flash can also create files in a variety of static or animated formats.
- .fla files are the source files, which contain source material for the flash application. They can be edited with Flash authoring software. "fla" is pronounced "flaw".
- .as (or sometimes .actionscript) files contain ActionScript, the source code for Flash applications.
- .swf files are completed, published files that cannot be edited. "swf" is pronounced "swiff".
- .flv files are Flash video files, that can be created by Macromedia Flash or Sorenson Squeeze.
Notable uses of Flash
See also: limited animation, Shockwave
- http://www.segway.com/flash/flash.html Interactive model of Segway HT
- http://www.homestarrunner.com/ Homestar Runner cartoons
- http://www.moonfruit.com/ Moonfruit hosts websites created entirely in automatically-generated Flash.
External links
- http://web.archive.org/web/19990210180754/http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/open/spec/ A Concise Guide to the SWF File Format published in 1998
- http://www.whitneybiennial.com
- Macromedia's page
- OpenSWF site
- BetaSpace - a Flash based new media art gallery
- Ming, an open library for creating Flash files
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/23594.html Article on Flash and viruses
- Ultrashock Flash forums great flash resource
- Flashkit is a thorough and popular flash resource and meeting place. Flashkit also organise large international flash conferences.
- An online flash generator
- Home of SWiSHmax, a Flash authoring program
- Home of KoolMoves, a Flash and SVG authoring program
- Home of 3D Flash Animator]
- Home of Open Office
- Draw SWF another free, GPLed, SWF authoring program
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Macromedia Flash."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Flash is a superhero from DC comics gifted with the power of superspeed.There have been a number of characters to take the mantle of the Flash. The first, Jay Garrick appeared in Flash Comics #1 published in 1940. The character is notable for being the first speedster in comics and one of the first to have a singular super-power as opposed to the multi-talented Superman. College student Jay Garrick was working in his lab with an experimental form of heavy water when an accident released the fumes and rendered the young scientist unconscious. He awoke to discover that he could move at superhuman speeds thanks to inhaling the fumes throughout the night. He became a crimefighter battling various villains. The character was also a charter member of the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America. His title was cancelled in 1949 with the publication of issue #104.
Writer Gardner Fox creator of the Jay Garrick Flash introduced a new character in the pages of Showcase #4 published in 1956. The new Flash was police scientist Barry Allen who gained his superspeed when a bolt of lightning threw him into a rack of chemicals. Inspired by the comic book exploits of Jay Garrick he decided to adopt a costume and fight crime as the Flash. The debut of the Barry Allen Flash is populary acknowledged as the starting point of the Silver Age of comics when superheros grew in popularity and sale figures skyrocketed. After a number of trial runs in the anthology title Showcase the Flash was given his own title continuing its numbering from Flash Comics with #105. This character was made a charter member of the Justice League of America.
The current Flash is Wally West, who was introduced in the pages of Flash #110 published in 1959. He was the nephew of Barry Allen's love interest Iris West who gained his own superpowers in an accident identical to that which Barry Allen suffered. He adopted the guise of Kid Flash and accompanied his uncle as a junior sidekick and as a member of the superhero team known as the Teen Titans. He graduated into the role of the Flash after the death of Barry Allen in 1986 and a new Flash series was begun in 1987. The third Flash is a member of the Justice League.
The Flash has appeared on television, most notably in a short lived CBS series during 1990 where he was portrayed by actor John Wesley Shipp aided by special effects and a molded costume. His most famous opponent in the series was The Trickster played by Mark Hamill who parlayed this successful role into in a new career as an animation voice actor.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "The Flash."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
FLASH | English | Function Library for ASN.1 Syntax Handlers | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: FlashSynonyms: brassy (adj), cheap (adj), flashy (adj), garish (adj), gaudy (adj), gimcrack (adj), loud (adj), meretricious (adj), tacky (adj), tatty (adj), tawdry (adj), trashy (adj), blink of an eye (n), flare (n), flash lamp (n), flashbulb (n), flashgun (n), flashing (n), instant (n), jiffy (n), news bulletin (n), newsflash (n), photoflash (n), split second (n), trice (n), twinkling (n), wink (n), blink (v), dart (v), dash (v), flaunt (v), scoot (v), scud (v), shoot (v), show off (v), swank (v), twinkle (v), winkle (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Heat | Phlogiston; fire, spark, scintillation, flash, flame, blaze; bonfire; firework, pyrotechnics, pyrotechny; wildfire; sheet of fire, lambent flame; devouring element; adiathermancy; recalescence. |
Impulse | Noun: impulse, sudden thought; impromptu, improvisation; inspiration, flash, spurt. |
Instantaneity | Verb: be instantaneous; Adjective: twinkle, flash. |
Moment, instant, second, minute; twinkling, trice, flash, breath, crack, jiffy, coup, burst, flash of lightning, stroke of time. | |
News | Bulletin, fresh news, stirring news; glad tidings; flash, news just in; on-the-spot coverage; live coverage. |
Violence | Break out, fly out, burst out; bounce, explode, go off, displode, fly, detonate, thunder, blow up, crump, flash, flare, burst; shock, strain; break open, force open, prize open. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don't think you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous (A Few Good Men; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin) So when the snoody cat, and the courageous dog, with the celebrity voices meet for the first time in reel three, that's when you'll catch a flash of Tyler's contribution to the film (Fight Club; writing credit: Jim Uhls) Oh yes, I have seen you. It was like a flash forward in time (Hideaway; writing credit: Andrew Kevin Walker) Okay, Flash, I'm game (Flash Gordon; writing credit: Basil Dickey; Ella O'Neill) Well, I've got a news flash for you, braintrust: that's not how it works (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Lyrics | But it's all right, I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash, (JUMPING JACK FLASH; performing artist: The Rolling Stones) You got those big dark eyes that flash at me, baby (Precious Love; performing artist: Bob Welch; writing credit: Bob Welch) I heard sirens there, the lights flash and crawl (I Did It; performing artist: Dave Matthews Band) You flash your bedroom eyes like a jumpin' jack (Armageddon It; performing artist: Def Leppard) Jack Flash sat on a candlestick ("American Pie"; performing artist: Don McLean) | |
Clever | My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash, and it is gone. (references; author: unknown) You are an engineer if you are convinced you can build a phazer out of your garage door opener and your camera's flash attachment. (references; author: unknown) | |
Tongue Twisters | Flash message! (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Flash Nick From Jindavick (1974) Adventures of Flash Beaver (1972) Jack: A Flash Fantasy (1972) What a Flash (1972) Flash Challenger (1969) | |
Song Titles | Jumpin' Jack Flash (performing artist: The Rolling Stones) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books | |||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Flash and sound ranging survey as practiced by Charles Wilkes Shoot cannon - see flash - measure time till hear sound - determine distance. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Flash ranging command post overlooking the Rhine River 17th FAOB Photo from 17th FAOB Album. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Officers' Sound and Flash Ranging Class No. 16 #9- Harry D. Reed; #11 - Charley Schanck; #12 C. M. Shinn. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Pacific sunset - waiting for the green flash. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Flash picture of goatfish, Mulloidichthys samoensis (Weke) taken at night. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |  | Emergency Watershed Program provided for rehabilitation of berm in Washington, Co. built as a result of flash flooding that placed homes at risk of sliding into swollen creek. Credit: Bob Nichols. |
 | Chuck Leinen, NRCS engineer, talks with homeowners in Washington Co following completion of berm rehabilation needed to eliminate risk caused by flash flooding of creek directly behind housing development. Emergency Watershed Program provided the needed s. Credit: Bob Nichols. |  | Flash flood within a city in Iowa. Credit: Lynn Betts. |
 | Catfish processed and ready for flash freezing at the Heartland Catfish Processing plant in Itta Bena, MS. Credit: USDA. |  | Nearly full moon in background and vegetation lighted by a flash in the foreground. Credit: Jerry Sintz. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Flash I" by Steve Boaz Commentary: "Flash of lighting out my window in Cincinnati." | "Galley Head Light, Co Cork Ire" by Pat McArdle Commentary: "Galley Head Lighthouse in west Cork at night. took the shot by exposing for around 2 mins and throwing light fill-in flash at the lighthouse (around 20 flashes at one sixteenth strength). Image works best in portrait format. Feel free to use it but let me" |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Buddha | This life of separateness may be compared to a dream, a phantasm, a bubble, a shadow, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The flash of victory passed into his eyes |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The flash of little flames picked out the cords of his neck |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Try having a cold drink (water or juice) at the beginning of a flash. (references) | |
A hot flash begins with a feeling of heat in your face and upper body. The skin may appear flushed or red as blood vessels expand. (references) | ||
Business | Currently, 8M bit models lead local flash memory sales, followed by 16M and 4M bit items. (references) | |
Predictions are that local demand for flash memory will surpass that of SRAMs in the near future. (references) | ||
Current information on Mexico's standards systems and mandatory standards can be obtained from the Office of Mexico's Flash Facts system. (references) | ||
Economic History | Uae | Consequently, multi-stage flash and multi-electric desalination technologies are widely used in the UAE. (references) |
Bahrain | The phase I of Hidd plant, which was completed last year, comprises two 140 MW gas turbines and four 7.5 million gallon-a-day multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination units. (references) | |
Bahrain | No tender documents have been issued as of May 2001. The government has had many problems with RO technology for large water facilities to treat its extremely saline water; it clearly prefers multi-stage flash (MSF) technology at this point. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Flash" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 64.02% of the time. "Flash" is used about 1,008 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 64.02% | 645 | 10,121 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 16.95% | 171 | 23,814 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 12.19% | 123 | 28,925 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 6.84% | 69 | 40,280 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,008 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "flash" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Flash | Last name | 170 | 40,755 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "flash": a flash of hope ♦ a flash of lightning ♦ a flash of wit ♦ arc flash ♦ as quick as a flash ♦ double flash cycle ♦ electronic flash ♦ eye flash ♦ flash a glance ♦ flash a torch on smb. ♦ flash across the memory ♦ flash back ♦ flash black ♦ flash blindness ♦ Flash boiler ♦ flash bomb ♦ flash bulb ♦ Flash burner ♦ flash butt welding ♦ flash camera ♦ flash card ♦ flash cartridge ♦ flash chromatography ♦ flash crowd ♦ flash cube ♦ flash drying ♦ flash eliminator ♦ flash EPROM ♦ flash fire ♦ flash flood ♦ flash gun ♦ flash gutter ♦ flash harry ♦ flash hider ♦ Flash house ♦ flash in the pan ♦ flash lamp ♦ Flash light ♦ flash lightning ♦ flash memory ♦ flash money ♦ flash of inspiration ♦ flash of lighting ♦ flash of lightning ♦ flash on ♦ flash on the mind ♦ flash one's eyes on smb. ♦ flash out ♦ flash past ♦ flash photography ♦ flash plate ♦ flash point ♦ flash radiography ♦ flash reducer ♦ flash ROM ♦ flash set ♦ flash shooting ♦ flash steam ♦ flash suppressor ♦ flash through ♦ flash through one's mind ♦ flash tongue ♦ flash tube ♦ flash welding ♦ Flash wheel ♦ for a flash ♦ forms flash ♦ green flash ♦ heat flash ♦ hot flash ♦ in a flash ♦ lightning flash ♦ muzzle flash ♦ news flash ♦ porno flash ♦ quick as a flash ♦ quick as flash ♦ shockwave Flash ♦ shoulder flash ♦ the flash of a gun ♦ thunder flash ♦ To flash in the pan ♦ To patter flash ♦ use flash ♦ welder's eye flash ♦ welder's flash ♦ welders'eye flash. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "flash": flash-arc, flash-back, flash-backs, flash-board, flash-bulb, flash-bulbs, flash-burn, flash-card, flash-cards, flash-fire, flash-flood, flash-flooded, flash-flooding, flash-floods, flash-forward, flash-frazzled, flash-freeze, flash-frozen, flash-glimpsed, flash-gun, flash-happy, flash-in, flash-ins, flash-in-the-pan, flash-lamp, flash-light, flash-lights, flash-masks, flash-over, flash-photolysis, flash-point, flash-to-bang time, Flash-wallop. | |
Ending with "flash": pre-flash. | |
Containing "flash": photo-flash lamp. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
flash | 11,167 | macromedia flash player | 674 |
tattoo flash | 4,965 | flash card | 614 |
flash game | 3,774 | flash memory | 593 |
flash camera | 2,972 | usb flash drive | 560 |
free tattoo flash | 2,498 | flash web site | 537 |
flash rack | 2,353 | free flash | 516 |
flash player | 2,343 | flash cartoon | 497 |
macromedia flash | 1,776 | flash mx tutorial | 495 |
flash animation | 1,688 | flash in piano play | 486 |
hot flash | 1,380 | flash get | 479 |
flash tutorial | 1,363 | flash download | 458 |
compact flash | 1,355 | flash 5 | 448 |
flash mountain | 1,090 | free flash game | 410 |
flash template | 969 | flash fxp | 362 |
compact flash card | 897 | flash drive | 345 |
flash mx | 827 | flash gordon | 341 |
flash movie | 758 | adult flash game | 335 |
flash design | 717 | the flash | 329 |
flash site | 714 | funny flash | 320 |
free flash template | 702 | flash flash revolution | 314 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "flash"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | flakërim (flame, flare, flare up, glow), zhveshje e pahijshme, shkreptimë (glint), shkrepje idesh, shkrep (cliff, crag, hit), shkëlqej (blaze, bloom, flame, fulgurate, gild, glare, gleam, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, glory, glow, light, polish, scintillate, shed, shine), shfaq (bear, display, evince, exert, exhibit, indicate, manifest, outspeak, pour out, present, proclaim, profess, put on, read off, show, testify), rreze shprese, ndriçoj befas, ndizem (blast off, blaze, heat), lajm i shkurtër, lëshoj sinjal, hedh (aim, cast, cheat, chuck, dart, dash, diddle, discard, dispose of, down-load, drop, evade, fling, flip, fob, fob off, have, heave, hose, hurl, land, launch, pitch, pour out, project, push, rain, release, scrap, send, set down, sink, sling, spill, sprinkle, strew, swing, tap, throw, throw away, throw down, throw over, toss, touch off, transfer, winnow), çast (crack, eyewink, hour, instant, jiff, jiffy, minute, moment, point, tick, trice). (various references) | |
Arabic | تلمع العيون, برهة قصيرة, رمش (eyelash, flicker, flickering), أخبار خاطفة, إبتسامة (grin, smile), إنطلق بسرعة البرق, إنفجر غضبا, طالب ذكي, برقية موجزة, تلمع, كاذب (bogus, deceptive, delusive, dummy, fake, false, fictitious, lying, phony, pseudo, sham, simulate, snide, spurious, unreal, untrue, untruthful), تنشر الخبر بسرعة, وميض (glimmer, glint, photoflash, shimmer, twinkle, twinkling), لمع (beam, blaze, buff, burnish, coruscate, dazzle, enamel, flare, furbish, gleam, glisten, glitter, polish, radiate, rub up, shine, sparkle), لمعان (brightness, burnish, glisten, glitter, gloss, glossiness, luminosity, luster, radiance, refulgence, sheen, shine, shining), نظر بإحتقار, نور خاطف (photoflash), متوهج (aglow, ardent, blazing, fervent, flamboyant, flame, garish, glowing, incandescent, live, lurid, radiant), مفاجئ (abrupt, at sea, like a bolt from the blue, precipitate, snappy, sudden, surprised, surprising, swift, unexpected, unforeseen, unlooked for, unpredicted), عكس النور. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | жаргон на крадци, избухвам (blaze, blow, blow up, break forth, burst out, erupt, explode, fire, fly into a rage, fulminate, go off the deep end, lose one's temper, pop off), изваждам изведнъж, искра (scintilla, scintillation, spark), искря (glitter, scintillate, spark, sparkle, twinkle), пламване (flashing, ignition), парадирам с (display), припламвам, проблясвам (flicker, glimmer, glint, shine through), профучавам (hurl, hurtle, roar by, scour, spank, sweep, sweep by, sweep past, whoosh), изблик (access, accession, burst, ebullience, ebulliency, ebullition, exuberance, flare, flood, flush, gale, gust, outbreak, outburst, outcrop, outflow, passion, riot, rush, spasm, spate, spirt, spurt, surge, wave), лумване, светвам (fulgurate, fulminate, kindle, lighten), заливам (flood, flush, inundate, lick, overflow, overrun, perfuse, sluice, splash, swamp, whelm), минавам внезапно през погледа, миг (instant, jiff, jiffy, minute, moment, second, shake, tick, trice, twinkle, twinkling), мълния (bolt, lightning, shaft, thunder, thunderbolt), озарявам (become adult, illuminate, lighten), водна струя пусната от бент, външен блясък (flashiness, gilt, gloss, vanity, veneer), флаш, цветна ивица, хрумване (fancy, idea, impulse, inspiration, notion, quirk, whim, whimsy, whim-wham), блясък (blaze, brightness, brilliance, brilliancy, coruscation, dash, eclat, effulgence, fire, glamor, glamour, glance, glint, glitter, glory, gloss, glossiness, heraldry, illumination, irradiation, lambency, light, luminance, luminosity, luster, lustre, pageantry, polish, radiance, radiancy, refulgence, resplendence, resplendency, sheen, shine, sparkle, splendor, splendour). (various references) | |
Chinese | 閃光 , 閃 (lightning), 闪光 (Flashes, twinkle, Twinkled), 熠 (to glow). (various references) | |
Czech | zatřpytit se, zablesknout se (flash a glance), záblesk (blink, flare, gleam, glimmer, glimpse, glint, twinkle), zářit (beam, blaze, eradiate, fulgurate, glare, glean, lighten, radiate, shine, sparkle), sršet, rychle ukázat, paprsek (beam, Ray, streak), nápad (brain child, brain wave, conception, device, idea, inspiration, notion, thought), blikat (blink, flicker, gutter, twinkle, wink), blesk (lightning, thunderbolt, wildfire). (various references) | |
Danish | finne (fin, Finn), flash, flydeaffald (burr, overflow, spew), optur (kick, rush), gnister, grad (degree, grade), grat (burr, overflow, paring, shaving, spew, trimming), hurtig daekning (flash plate), afgrate (de-burr, de-fin, de-flash, flash-lathe, to de-burr, to fettle, to take the burr off, to trim, to trim the edges off), korte blink, valsefinne (collar mark, overfill), overfanget glas (cased glass, flashed glass), overfangsglas (cased glass, flashed glass), overgangsglas (cased glass, flashed glass), overpresning (fin, flush, overflush, overpress), stikflamme, stoebefinne (burr, overflow, spew), stukkegrat, sus (kick, rush), kort flamme (flash fire). (various references) | |
Dutch | gloren, flitsen (lighten), flikkeren (flare, flare up, flicker, lighten). (various references) | |
Esperanto | ekbrili. (various references) | |
Farsi | فلاش عکاسی , یک ان , ناگهان شعله ورشدن , لحظه (Instance, Instant, Minute, Moment, Second, Spot, Trice), تشعشع (Glare, Radiance, Ray, Refulgence), زودگذشتن , جلوه (Bravery, Display, Luster, Parade, Seeming, Show, Showing, Sight), روشناءی مختصر, برق زدن (Alight, Glisten, Glitter, Lightning, Luster, Ray, Scintillate, Wink), برق (Brilliance, Electricity, Glaze, Glint, Scintillation, Sheen, Sparkle), بروزناگهانی . (various references) | |
Finnish | Flash-muisti, salamoida, iskeä tulta (strike a light), leimahdus (flash of lightning), leimahtaa (flare), leimupurse, liekehtiä (blaze, flame), ohut elektrolyyttinen metallikerros (flash plate), pistoliekki, poistaa valupurseet (de-flash, flash-lathe, to de-burr, to fettle, to take the burr off, to trim, to trim the edges off), säihkyä (beam, glow, sparkle), vilkkua (blink, flicker, twinkle), silottaa (calender, smooth), tasoittaa (equalize, even, level, make even, round balance, smooth, trim), välähdys (glimpse), välähtää, välkkyä (gleam, glimmer, glitter, sparkle), verholasi (cased glass, cased hollow ware, flashed glass), vilahdus (glimpse), vilahtaa (twinkle), vilaus (glimpse), purse (fin, flush, overflush, overpress, spew). (various references) | |
French | flash (flash light, flashgun, flashlight), clignoter, éclat (flare). (various references) | |
Frisian | oangean (begin, burn, catch, commence, flash on, start, strike, take fire). (various references) | |
German | blitz (bolt, lightning, thunderbolt), blinken (blink, flashing, gleam, glint, indicate, shine, signal, to flash), zucken (flare up, flicker, flinch, jerk, quiver, shiver, shrug, shrugged, start, streak, thrash about, tremble, tremor, twinge, twitch, work), aufleuchten (brighten, flare, gleam, light up, to flash), aufblitzen (flare, flare up, flash through one's mind, to flash). (various references) | |
Greek | αναλαμπή (flare, gleam), φλας (indicator). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מבזק (flashlight), להבזיק (flare), לברוק (fulminate), לרשוף (gleam, spark), לנצנץ (flicker, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle), חזיז (flash of lighting, thunderbolt), הבזק (flare, glint), הבהקה (flare, glistening), הבהק (flare), בזק (lightning), רשף (flame, spark), נצוץ (gleam, spark, trace), נצנוץ (flickering, gleam, glimmer, glimmering, glint, glistening, glitter, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle, twinkling). (various references) | |
Hungarian | villanás (blink, flashing, gleam, glint), felvillanó fény (revolving light), felvillanás (flare-up, glint). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mencetus, denyaran (gleam), denyar, cetusan (spark), berdenyar. (various references) | |
Italian | scintillare (glitter, scintilate, scintillate, shine, spark, sparkle, twinkle), lampo (lightning, zip fastener), flash (flashlight). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 閃光 (glint), 閃く (flicker), 閃き (flair, insight), 石火 (flint fire), 紫電 (purple lightning, swordflash), フラクション活動 (flag, flannel, flap, flap pocket, flapper, flashback, flashlight, flask, flat, flat collar, flat race, flush, fractal, fraction activity, fragment, fragmentation, frappe, fresco, frustration, hula dance, news flash). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | フラッシュ (flush), しでん (city streetcar, historical material, history and biography, instruction from a master, municipal railway, purple lightning, swordflash, tram), ひらめく (flicker), ひらめき (flair, insight), せっか (become communistic, fan-tailed warbler, flint fire, fossilization, mineralization, petrifaction, snowflakes, Sovietize, the Red Peril, turning red), せんこう (acting arbitrarily, arbitrary action, batting first, bright red, departure of the emperor from the capital, distinguished war service, fine workmanship, glint, going first, incense stick, light red, major subject, merit of war, one's late father, ore sorting, perforation, polarimetric, preceding, punching, rupture, scarlet, screening, selection, special study, submarine voyage, travelling in disguise, travelling incognito, underwater navigation). (various references) | |
Korean | 섬광 (Flashes, Glance, scintillation). (various references) | |
Manx | chentyn (break, flashing, flicker), chent (flash of light). (various references) | |
Norwegian | glimt |
