[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. A greater depth may in general be procured, 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. 217–8. When sea and land clouds would pass at too great a distance for the flash, they are attracted towards each other till within that distance; for the sphere of electrical attraction is far beyond the distance of flashing.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idylls, Ser. II. Echetlos, 7.
| But one man kept no rank, and his sole arm plied no spear, | |
| As a flashing came and went, and a form i’ the van, the rear, | |
| Brightened the battle up, for he blazed now there, now here. |
transf. and fig. 1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, I. v. (1614), 26. So much the greater is their sinne, that seeke to flash out these flashings: and whereas they cannot reade the booke of Scripture, and will not read the booke of the Creature, labour to extinguish also this Light of Nature, that with feared consciences, they may more freely in darknesse commit the workes of darknesse.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., I. (1851), 12. The Bishops firme to Rome, from whence was to be expected the furious flashing of Excommunications, and absolving the People from their Obedience.
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. Scarcely any one seems to have doubted the reality of these spirits, or that they were accustomed to reveal themselves to mankind; and the coruscations of the Aurora are said to have been attributed to the flashings of their wings.
1886. Sheldon, trans. Flaubert’s Salammbô, 19. Excited by the flashing of the naked swords, she cried out, with open arms.
5. techn. a. Glass-making. (See FLASH v. 14 a.)
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., iv. (ed. 3), 35. The effect of great velocity in modifying the form of a cohesive substance is beautifully shown in the process for making window-glass, termed ‘flashing,’ which is one of the most striking operations in our domestic arts.
1839. Sat. Mag., XIV. 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 March, 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.
6. 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 vapor 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, however, several subsidiary furnaces to a crown-house … 3. a flashing furnace, and bottoming hole for communicating a softening heat, in expanding the globe into a circular plate. Ibid. (1878), IV. 570. The flashing-point was proved to have been abnormally high, being, in fact, 144° Fahr.
