1. Anything designed to attract attention, as a window display, expensive jewelry. 2. Anything used to impress an intended victim. 3. A glance as at credentials. 4. The stock prizes exhibited at concession stands to lure the customer, who will receieve a larry if he wins. 5. A flashlight. 6. A suit of clothes; an outfit. "Yeah, Alibi Al cut out (left) stir (prison) with a flash that looked like he rolled (robbed) a stiff (dead body) for it."

- american underworld dictionary - 1950

Software from Macromedia that allows you to create animations and other stuff for display on the web.

In the context of photography, a flash (or strobe) is a device that sends out a very short lasting and very powerful flash of light.

The effect is achieved either by an electrical discharge (more or less like a spark) in a rare gas (usually xenon), or by igniting some fast-burning material, like magnesium in air or steel wool in pure oxygen atmosphere: the first case is the electronic flash, and the latter is the flashbulb.

1. A superhero from DC Comics with the power of super speed. See The Flash.

2. One of the original 1982 set of G.I. Joe 3 3/4" action figures. He came with a laser rifle hooked up to his backpack, a protective visor, and red protective padding covering his green uniform.

Action figure filecard:

LASER RIFLE TROOPER

Code Name: FLASH

File Name: Gambello, Anthony S. SN: RA607432985
Primary Military Specialty: Infantry
Secondary Military Specialty: Electronics CBR
Birthplace: Lodi, California Grade: E-4
Flash is highly skilled in many aspects of electronic technology and is capable of equipment repair in the field. Specialized Education: Electronics School; Chemical School; Covert Electronics. Qualified Expert: M-16; M-1911A1; XMLR-1A (Shoulder-Fired Laser Rifle).
"Flash is methodical and persistent. Has an innate and unshakable faith in the order of the universe. He’s working on his Master’s degree in electronic engineering (nights)."

Comic book appearances:
* G.I. JOE: #1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 17, 18, 22, 33, 49, 50, 57, 78
* G.I. JOE Yearbook: #2
* G.I. JOE: Order of Battle: #1

Filecards and information from http://www.yojoe.com
In juggling, a flash is a move where all the balls are in the air at the same time.

Thus a three ball flash would go something like 33333555(wait)3333. You can throw a flash with any number of balls, although I'd be surprised to see it done with any more than five.

The simple trick to a flash is to throw all the balls to the same height. If you can do this, they will land in the proper 333 rhythm. Don't panic.

Now, since your hands are free during the flash, you should do something to show off this fact. (You want the audience to see what you're doing.) By far the most popular thing to do is to spin round before catching the balls; known as a "flash pirouette". But don't just learn this one variation - be creative!

NB: A 'flash' is different from 'flashing'. 'Flashing 7 balls' means that you are throwing the first few throws of the 7 ball cascade consistently, not that you are doing a flash with seven balls!

Sorry to add another writeup to this already bloated node, but Flash is also a range of cleaning products for bathrooms and kitchens. Produced by Proctor and Gamble and sold in the UK (and probably other countries), its TV advertising campaigns largely consist of a husband buttering up his wife by offering to do all of the kitchen and/or bathroom scrubbing and cleaning for her, and then using Flash, which obviously takes very little time and effort. The slogan is "Flash (insert type of cleaner here) does the hard work, so you don't have to."


Flash is also the name of the title song to to famous bad sf film, Flash Gordon. It was written by Brian May and performed by Queen, and includes some voice samples from the film. I would include lyrics but they are already provided at the Flash Gordon node.

FLASH also stands for Flexible Architecture for SHared memory, a multiprocessor developed in Stanford University "in partnership with the Information Technology Office in ARPA, with LSI Logic, and with significant cooperation from MIPS Technologies." (quote from FLASH site)

FLASH is intended to be a scalable multiprocessor achitecture supporting several communication models by taking advantage of its special node controller.

Flash memory is a form of nonvolatile data storage device based on the principles first used in EPROM devices. Flash comes in a number of form factors and interfaces, as well as a number of underlying technologies.

Flash consists of a number of identical cells. Each cell uses the fact that an isolated spot of dopant on an integrated circuit can hold a charge for a long time; even up to many years. EPROM works in a similar way; during programming, hot electrons are injected, through an insulating region, into the storage cell, where they are trapped. The charge in the cell can be detected by means of a field effect transistor placed just below the cell.

In an EPROM, the only way to return the trapped electrons to the substrate is to expose the chip to ultraviolet light, which generates charge carrier pairs in the normally insulating medium, rendering it conducting. In a Flash memory, a similar effect can be produced by applying an erase voltage to a row of electrodes around the cell.

Flash memory has the general characteristic that it can be read relatively rapidly, on the order of a few nanoseconds; however write cycles are much slower, being on the order of a few microseconds, and erase cycles are slower still, in some cases taking up to a second or so. Flash devices also have a limited lifespan, despite lacking moving parts. The injection of hot electrons damages the crystalline structure of the silicon gradually; most Flash devices have a lifespan of approximately ten thousand erases.

Flash memory is available in a variety of underlying technologies, the most common being NOR and NAND. NOR Flash basically presents the same interface as an EPROM, most chips conforming to a standard known as CFI, the Common Flash Interface. CFI is popular because microprocessors can execute code directly from CFI flash, which means that CFI Flash can be used as a bootstrap. NOR flash is available in single-bit-per-cell and dual-bit-per-cell variants. Intel StrataFlash and AMD MirrorBit are examples of dual-bit-per-cell NOR Flash.

NOR devices drive their cells deeply into saturation in order to ensure data integrity over long periods of time. This means that while they do not require ECC, they are quite slow to write and very slow to erase. NAND Flash is very different. It uses small cells, driven only slightly into saturation. Typically NAND Flash will erase in a few milliseconds, will erase in small segments (typically 8 kilobytes at a time, as opposed to most NOR devices which have erase regions of 128 kilobytes) and can be rewritten up to a hundred thousand times before wearing out. NAND Flash has typically eight times the density of NOR Flash. The price that NAND Flash pays for this flexibility is that it is extremely error prone and absolutely requires the use of an error correction scheme. NAND Flash devices provide an out of band area in which to store checksums and other FEC data. Microprocessors cannot generally boot out of NAND Flash unless they are specifically designed to do so.

As erasing a Flash device wears it out, and Flash devices are generally not erased all at once, but rather a block at a time, a number of schemes for extending the lifespan of Flash devices by evening out the wear are in use. Counted wear levelling is the most sophisticated, maintaining a count of the number of times each block has been erased, and moving static data into frequently-erased blocks. Block rotation and block shuffling are simpler variants, suitable for lightly-used Flashes.

Most consumer contact with Flash comes in the form of memory cards. SmartMedia cards are simply NAND Flash chips in a card form factor. CompactFlash cards consist of one or a number of NAND Flash parts connected to an ASIC that provides ECC and wear levelling functionality, as well as presenting an ATA interface. Most PC motherboards have a NOR Flash for holding their BIOS firmware. Flash is, as HP marketing literature had it, the saver of the Universe.

Flash (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flashed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Flashing.] [Cf. OE. flaskien, vlaskien to pour, sprinkle, dial. Sw. flasa to blaze, E. flush, flare.]

1.

To burst or break forth with a sudden and transient flood of flame and light; as, the lighting flashes vividly; the powder flashed.

2.

To break forth, as a sudden flood of light; to burst instantly and brightly on the sight; to show a momentary brilliancy; to come or pass like a flash.

Names which have flashed and thundered as the watch words of unumbered struggles. Talfourd.

The object is made to flash upon the eye of the mind. M. Arnold.

A thought flashed through me, which I clothed in act. Tennyson.

3.

To burst forth like a sudden flame; to break out violently; to rush hastily.

Every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other. Shak.

To flash in the pan, to fail of success. [Colloq.] See under Flash, a burst of light.

Bartlett.

Syn. -- Flash, Glitter, Gleam, Glisten, Glister. Flash differs from glitter and gleam, denoting a flood or wide extent of light. The latter words may express the issuing of light from a small object, or from a pencil of rays. Flash differs from other words, also, in denoting suddenness of appearance and disappearance. Flashing differs from exploding or disploding in not being accompanied with a loud report. To glisten, or glister, is to shine with a soft and fitful luster, as eyes suffused with tears, or flowers wet with dew.

 

© Webster 1913.


Flash (?), v. t.

1.

To send out in flashes; to cause to burst forth with sudden flame or light.

The chariot of paternal Deity, Flashing thick flames. Milton.

2.

To convey as by a flash; to light up, as by a sudden flame or light; as, to flash a message along the wires; to flash conviction on the mind.

3. Glass Making

To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different color. See Flashing, n., 3 (b).

4.

To trick up in a showy manner.

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


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 fictious strength to liquors.

Flash light, ∨ 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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Flash, a.

1.

Showy, but counterfeit; cheap, pretentious, and vulgar; as, flash jewelry; flash finery.

<-- different from flashy[3]? Not much used late 1900's. Perh. because of sense 2? -->

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Flash, n.

Slang or cant of thieves and prostitutes.

 

© Webster 1913.


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.

 

© Webster 1913.

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