flash

n.

1. Sudden, brief light

   glimmer, sparkle, glitter, glisten, scintillation, gleam, glance, beam, coruscation, blaze, flicker, flare, flame, glare, burst, impulse, vision, imprint, display, dazzle, shimmer, shine, glow, twinkle, twinkling, phosphorescence, reflection, bedazzlement, radiation, ray, luster, spark, streak, pencil, stream, illumination, incandescence.

2. Brief, important news

   bulletin, dispatch, report; see news 1, 2.

flash implies a sudden, brief, brilliant light; glance refers to a darting light, esp. one that is reflected from a surface at an angle; gleam suggests a steady, narrow ray of light shining through a background of relative darkness; sparkle implies a number of brief, bright, intermittent flashes; glitter implies the reflection of such bright, intermittent flashes; glisten suggests the reflection of a lustrous light, as from a wet surface; shimmer refers to a soft, tremulous reflection, as from a slightly disturbed body of water

flash

v.

1. To give forth a light by flashing

   glimmer, sparkle, glitter, glisten, scintillate, gleam, beam, coruscate, blaze, flame, flare, glare, dazzle, shimmer, shine, glow, twinkle, blink, phosphoresce, reflect, bedazzle, radiate, shoot out beams, shed luster, flicker, glance; see also shine 1, 2.

2. To move with the speed of a flash

   speed, flit, shoot, fly; see run 2, speed.