▪ I. flashing, vbl. n.1
(ˈflæʃɪŋ)
[f. flash v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. in various senses.
1. A splashing (of water).
| 1611 Cotgr., Gaschement..a flashing, dashing, or plashing, as of water in rowing. 1727 Bailey vol. II., Flashing..dashing or spurting as Water, a Spurting. |
2. The process of letting down a flash of water to carry a boat over the shallows of a river.
| 1791 Rep. Navig. Thames & Isis 11 By removing the shallows, and continuing the use of Flashing. |
3. The bursting out or sending forth of flame or light.
| 1573 Baret Alv. F 617 The Flashing of fire, or lightning, coruscatio. 1652 F. Kirkman Clerio & Lozia 81 They began their Flashings and Musique until all were gone out. 1748 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 218 The sphere of electrical attraction is far beyond the distance of flashing. 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls, Ser. ii. Echetlos 8 A flashing came and went. |
| transf. and fig. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. v. (1614) 26 So much the greater is their sinne, that seeke to flash out these flashings. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. (1851) 12 Rome, from whence was to be expected the furious flashing of Excommunications. 1676 R. Dixon Nat. Two Test. 282 Mingled with Poetical flashings and ginglings. |
4. A rapid movement resembling or producing a flash of light; the drawing or waving of a sword with a flash.
| 1865 Lecky Ration. (1878) I. 43 The coruscations of the Aurora are said to have been attributed to the flashings of their wings. 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbo 19 Excited by the flashing of the naked swords. |
5. slang. = indecent exposure s.v. exposure 1 f.
| [1896: see flasher 9.] 1968 J. Lock Lady Policeman ii. 11 City parks also have their share of ‘flashing’. 1971 R. Busby Deadlock vi. 84 He's got two previous for indecent assault and one for flashing on his form sheet. 1977 E. J. Trimmer et al. Visual Dict. Sex (1978) xxii. 246 The commonest of the indecent offences before the courts is indecent exposure, sometimes called ‘flashing’. |
6. techn. a. Glass-making. (See flash v. 14 a.)
| 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. iv. (ed. 3) 35 The process for making window glass, termed flashing. 1839 Sat. Mag. 23 Feb. 66/1 Flashing, that is, uniting a thin layer of coloured glass with another layer which is colourless. |
b. Electric lighting. (see quot. and flash v. 14 b.)
| 1892 Gloss. Electr. Terms in Lightning 3 Mar. Suppl., Flashing, (a) Of a dynamo machine. Abnormally long sparks sometimes seen at the commutator of a dynamo. (b) A process for rendering the filaments of incandescent lamps of uniform resistance throughout. |
7. attrib. and Comb., as flashing-furnace; flashing-board, a sloping board at the bottom of a door or casement to keep off the rain; flashing-point, the temperature at which the vapour given off from an oil or hydrocarbon will ‘flash’ or ignite.
| 1852 Burn Nav. & Mil. Techn. Dict. ii. Eng.-Fr., Flashing board, reverseau. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 580 (Glass-making) There are..several subsidiary furnaces to a crown-house..3. a flashing furnace, and bottoming hole for communicating a softening heat. 1878 Ure's Dict. Arts IV. 570 The flashing-point was proved to have been abnormally high. |
▪ II. flashing, vbl. n.2
(ˈflæʃɪŋ)
[f. flash v.2; cf. flash n.4]
concr. (See quot. 1874.)
| 1782 Phil. Trans. LXXII. 359 At its junction with the wall a flashing of lead is carried along horizontally. 1842 in Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §2214. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 876/2 Flashing, (a) A lap-joint used in sheet-metal roofing, where the edges of the sheets meet on a projecting edge. (b) A strip of lead leading the drip of a wall into a gutter. |
▪ III. flashing, ppl. a.
(ˈflæʃɪŋ)
[f. flash v.1 + -ing2.]
1. a. That flashes, in various senses of the vb.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Jas. iii. 5 Wherof cometh that horrible and broade flasshing flame of fyre? 1616 J. Lane Cont. Sqr's. T. xi. 330 His horse was of a sangine color redd, so weare his flasshinge plumes aloft his head. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 382 Fast, fast they plunge amid the flashing wave. 1835 Lytton Rienzi i. iii, Before the flashing eye and menacing gesture of the cavalier. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1613 Hieron Triall of Adopt. Wks. 1624 I. 315 Imagination and fancy may breed a certaine flashing ioy, but there is no perpetuity, no setlednesse of reioycing. 1654 Z. Coke Logick Ded. (1657) A v b, Scorched with flashing zeal. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xii, Her lovely face was crimsoned with her flashing blood. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 93 Again and again she beholds the flashing beauty of the beloved. |
c. flashing light (in a lighthouse, etc.). flashing signals, signals made with flashes of light. Hence, applied to a direction indicator on a motor vehicle which signals with flashes of light.
| 1858 Merc. Marine Mag. V. 30 Flashing Light on Hogsten..It is Fixed, with a Flash once every three minutes. 1863 Colomb in Jrnl. R. United Service Instit. VII. 386 We then agreed that..a system of flashing signals was practicable. 1932 Daily Express 20 Sept. 3 Everyone's talking about the new flashing Direction Indicator which only Morris cars carry. This device gives safer signalling. 1959 ‘Motor’ Man. (ed. 36) vi. 183 Another change since the war has been the progressive displacement of the semaphore-type of direction indicator by flashing light signals, and this latter system is now nearly universal on modern cars... Flashing turn indicators are operated either by a switch of the self-cancelling type mounted on the steering column, or by an independent switch mounted within easy reach of the driver. |
2. Comb. as flashing-eyed adj.
| 1880 R. Broughton Sec. Th. iii. iv, ‘You are ruining the child!’ cries Gillian, still flashing-eyed and panting. |
Hence ˈflashingly adv., in a flashing manner.
| 1891 Illustr. Lond. News 21 Nov. 658/3 They rain flashingly, a visible brilliance. |