the.com/flash
a moment so fast it leaves daylight gasping and shadows behind.
means A flash is a sudden, brief burst of light or, by extension, any very short instant of time.
from From Middle English 'flasshen,' originally meaning to splash or dash water about — likely imitative, the word miming the quick spatter of a wave. Over time the splash of liquid became a splash of light, and 'flash' came to name any sudden brilliance. The temporal sense ('in a flash') grew from that same speed: light arrives all at once, so a moment that brief borrowed its name.
- lightning speed
- a bolt is five times hotter than the sun's surface
- photo origin
- early flashes used explosive magnesium powder
- comic hero
- the Flash debuted in 1940, decades before Marvel's speedsters
- dead tech
- Adobe Flash powered the early web, killed in 2020
- green flash
- a real sunset trick where the sun briefly turns green
flash gordon — sci-fi character created in 1934 comic strips, famous for battling ming the merciless
the flash — dc comics superhero first appearing in 1940, multiple speedster versions including barry allen
flash mob — spontaneous public gathering phenomenon that emerged around 2003, coordinated via social media