flash

«flash» in Mova's school dictionary: a quick bright light — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a flash, flashes); verb (flash, flashes, flashed, flashing); adjective (flash = showy, informal)

meaning for a pupil

1) A flash is a quick bright light. tree →

2) To flash is to shine for a very short moment, or to shine on and off. tree →

3) In a flash means very quickly. tree →

4) A flash on a camera is a bright light for taking photos in the dark. tree →

5) To flash by is to move past very fast. tree →

6) To flash into someone's mind means to occur to them suddenly. tree →

sense in the lessons

a light that flashes again and again: every few seconds, how many times in a minute; in science: lightning is a giant flash, and you see the flash before you hear the thunder; in safety: flashing lights on police cars and crossings mean take care; phrases: «in a flash», «a flash of lightning», «flash flood», «flashlight» (US for torch)

examples

• The light flashes every 5 seconds. tree →
• A red lamp flashes 3 times a minute. tree →
• Two lights flash together at 8 seconds. tree →
• How many flashes in a minute? tree →
• A flash of lightning lit up the sky. tree →
• Count the seconds between the flash and the thunder. tree →
• The rabbit was gone in a flash. tree →
• The ambulance came with its lights flashing. tree →
• Please turn off the flash in the museum. tree →
• A car flashed past the window. tree →
• Instantly the truth flashed upon him. tree →

note

Repeated events: count = time ÷ gap (plus one if you count the first at the start). Two lights flash together again after a common multiple. Plural: flashes. Science: light is faster than sound, so the flash comes first; about 3 seconds of gap means the storm is about 1 km away. Safety: a flash flood comes very fast, so move to high ground.

In the corpora

• A siren and flashing blue lights mean police are rushing to an emergency, and other drivers must pull over to let them through.
• Bright camera flashes over years can fade delicate colours and annoy visitors; many museums allow photos without flash.
• Tapping on glass, shouting and flash photos frighten animals, which cannot leave as easily as visitors can.
• Octopuses change colour in a flash with millions of tiny colour sacs in their skin, to hide, show mood or startle enemies.
• In a few places thousands flash in time together.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «flash» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.