FLASHING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flashing mean? 

• FLASHING (noun)
  The noun FLASHING has 2 senses:

1. a short vivid experience

2. sheet metal shaped and attached to a roof for strength and weatherproofing

  Familiarity information: FLASHING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLASHING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A short vivid experience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

flash; flashing

Context example:

the flashings of pain were a warning

Hypernyms ("flashing" is a kind of...):

experience (an event as apprehended)

Derivation:

flash (appear briefly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sheet metal shaped and attached to a roof for strength and weatherproofing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("flashing" is a kind of...):

sheet metal (sheet of metal formed into a thin plate)

 Context examples 

Later, their memories were tested by flashing a word on the screen and asking the patient to state its paired word.

(Our brains may ripple before remembering, National Institutes of Health)

Some people can tell when they are about to have a migraine because they see flashing lights or zigzag lines or they temporarily lose their vision.

(Migraine, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

He was speaking rapidly now, and his eyes were flashing.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We skimmed before it like a bird, the coast of the island flashing by and the view changing every minute.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It seemed a lighthouse; but it was inside his brain—a flashing, bright white light.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The sun stay longer in the sky, and there are sun- dogs flashing on either side, and the air is bright with frost-dust.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“An attack of brain-fever, for example?” asked the statesman, flashing a swift glance at him.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I saw the flashing black eyes, and the passion-wasted figure; and I saw the scar, with its white track cutting through her lips, quivering and throbbing as she spoke.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With their flashing teeth, their bristling hair, their mad leapings and screamings, they seemed to Alleyne more like fiends from the pit than men of flesh and blood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Neither the levelled weapons nor the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, nor the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their attention.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)