I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a fit/flash/burst of temper (= when you are very angry for a short time )
▪
A businessman assaulted his wife and son in a fit of temper, a court heard yesterday.
a flash of inspiration (= a sudden good idea )
▪
A sudden flash of inspiration came to him.
a flash of light (= a bright light that appears suddenly for a very short time )
▪
A flash of light caught his attention.
a flash of lightning/a lightning flash (= a sudden light from lightning )
▪
Suddenly there was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder.
▪
A series of lightning flashes crackled overhead.
a flash of lightning/a lightning flash (= a sudden light from lightning )
▪
Suddenly there was a flash of lightning and a roll of thunder.
▪
A series of lightning flashes crackled overhead.
a flash/trace/touch of humour (= a very small amount of humour )
▪
She replied with a rare flash of humour.
blinding flash
▪
Suddenly, I had a blinding flash of inspiration.
blinding flash/light/glare etc
▪
the desert with its strange twisted plants and its blinding light
flash a card (= show one very quickly )
▪
He flashed his ID card at the guard and walked straight in.
flash bulb
flash drive
flash memory
flash sb a grin (= smile quickly at someone )
▪
Flashing me a grin over her shoulder, she got into the car.
flash (sb) a smile (= give a quick smile )
▪
She flashed him a smile.
lightning flashes
▪
Lightning flashed in the sky, and there was a loud crash of thunder.
Quick as a flash (= very quickly )
▪
Quick as a flash she replied, ‘That’s not what I’ve heard!’
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
across
▪
Her eyes flashed across to the clock once again.
▪
Newscasts of the chaotic minutes after the attack flash across nine video monitors.
▪
A D-V flashed across , firing and missing.
back
▪
Isabel's eyes flashed back to his face.
▪
When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination.
▪
Nonsense, flashed back Jack Sandner, the chairman of Chicago's Merc.
▪
She flashed back to her discussion with Ted Wilkinson, reliving every moment in her mind.
▪
I flashed back in a friendly way and we fled.
▪
Little kids' grins flashed back at me: yes!
▪
My mind flashed back to those nights in Marcus Small Ward.
▪
Suddenly something she had heard her daddy read out from a newspaper flashed back to her.
by
▪
But the days flash by in a blur.
▪
Maybe it was the swirling water, or a bird that flashed by .
▪
Larger animals which are not subject to the whims of wind and current may flash by or come closer for a brief look.
▪
Perhaps life was flashing by like a tape player speeded up.
▪
The Envi poster flashed by , the woman's face laughing at me.
▪
The shunting stopped and movement began to slow, the whiteness of the sign South Kensington flashed by .
▪
Just a glance, flashing by , but I have time to see the accusation and hurt.
on
▪
It's getting dark, so the lights look extra pretty, flashing on and off.
▪
The light in the front room flashed on .
▪
It's a big white ambulance with a blue light on top, flashing on and off.
▪
Lights flashing on and off in my head.
▪
He walked towards the entrance; a fancy airlock system over which a large illuminated sign flashed on and off.
▪
Visual images flashed on and off at fractions of a second to imprint themselves on the subconscious mind.
▪
Dials and switches flashed on and off.
▪
A red light flashed on , but there was no apparent sound.
past
▪
A tearful itch tickled my lids as spoked hangovers flashed past .
▪
Had others pitied me as they flashed past .
▪
The decades would soon flash past and, in these harsh commercial days, time matters.
up
▪
A friendly palm flashes up from the shadows, like a pink glove.
▪
A Hindu deity with many arms flashes up on the screen.
▪
Its red hour-glass flashed up at him as the spider swirled in the motion of the water.
▪
Posi gave the warning - spacecraft approaching - and the screens flashed up the images.
▪
The blade flashed up and down.
▪
You half expect judges to flash up scores by way of a finale.
▪
The screen flashed up a weapons menu, requesting operator input.
▪
But it'd flashed up like neon in my head once or twice since then: Warning.
■ NOUN
brain
▪
Her body seemed determined to ignore the danger signals now at last flashing through her brain .
▪
A video screen flashes scans of the brain .
card
▪
William Yes.. He flashes a card .
▪
Returning workers flashed special identification cards issued by the union and walked in.
▪
Eyes averted, coins clanked into the tin, there was no need to flash the identity card .
▪
In all the confusion Guy Sterne had calmly flashed a credit card and whisked her away.
▪
I flashed my supermarket loyalty card and was in.
▪
When you flashed the Repo Man card I thought we'd been infiltrated.
▪
They said that they were police and flashed white cards .
face
▪
The image of his face flashed past and together with it all the days of early summer, Jubilee summer.
fire
▪
He threw it into a nearby fire , where it flashed brilliantly.
glance
▪
Zak flashed a glance at the crew, saw me and gave me a thumbs-up sign.
▪
She, who knew me well, understood and flashed a warning glance at me.
▪
Lucy flashed a startled glance at him.
grin
▪
Miller, obviously in charge, flashed a knowing grin .
▪
Karen looks back and flashes a big grin .
image
▪
The image of his face flashed past and together with it all the days of early summer, Jubilee summer.
▪
I sat down in the chair across from her and an image flashed into my mind.
▪
Visual images flashed on and off at fractions of a second to imprint themselves on the subconscious mind.
life
▪
Perhaps life was flashing by like a tape player speeded up.
▪
One's whole life did flash before one's eyes at the moment of death.
▪
Her life had just flashed past her eyes and wasn't it dull?
light
▪
It's a big white ambulance with a blue light on top, flashing on and off.
▪
Several dozen phone lights flashed continually on our telephone boards.
▪
The furious lights would flash past and we would move into the middle again.
▪
The sunlight struck the silver-plated candlesticks on the sideboard and sent stilettos of light flashing through the room.
▪
With sirens wailing and blue lights flashing the red fire engine sped through the city.
▪
When the lights are flashing the modem is receiving data; when they are dull the modem is in waiting.
▪
Upon the dashboard of a black Cadillac sedan parked in a nearby side-road a green light began to flash furiously.
▪
A string of colored Christmas lights flashed like jewels.
lightning
▪
The elements seemed very awesome. Lightning flashed again, brilliant as a fluorescent light.
▪
More lightning flashed overhead, followed by loud thunder.
▪
The lightning flashed again, but he was turning; the mutilated corpse was at the edge of his vision.
▪
Duvall moved forward to fire again, but Rohmer held his arm - pulling him back. Lightning flashed outside again.
look
▪
But spirited Patsy flashed a look of encouragement at him.
▪
She flashed me a look of astonishment.
▪
Ma flashes Pa an amazed look .
▪
I flashed the Monster a look of triumph and waited for the attention to begin.
message
▪
We go home at night to our hotel room, and the light on the phone is flashing with 50 more messages .
▪
Glover thought he saw eyes flash out the clear message that he could stick this clipping up his wazoo.
▪
These flashed their electric message through intervening night.
mind
▪
My mind flashed back to those nights in Marcus Small Ward.
screen
▪
As Britta watched, one of the three screens flashed blinding white as one of the three Counsellors was hit.
▪
A video screen flashes scans of the brain.
▪
Posi gave the warning - spacecraft approaching - and the screens flashed up the images.
▪
Many seemed resigned to defeat as two huge television screens flashed the grim news from East Coast precincts.
▪
Radar screens began flashing at the U. S. Capitol.
▪
The screen flashed up a weapons menu, requesting operator input.
sign
▪
The shunting stopped and movement began to slow, the whiteness of the sign South Kensington flashed by.
▪
He walked towards the entrance; a fancy airlock system over which a large illuminated sign flashed on and off.
▪
His shiny shoes pounded the sidewalks, and neon signs flashed the names of increasingly seedy nightclubs at him.
▪
Warning signs began to flash that abuses could occur in the police investigation of serious crime.
▪
But the warning signs are flashing before the league gets under way next week.
smile
▪
Vic hoots impatiently at the barrier; the security man's face appears at the window and flashes an ingratiating smile .
▪
The wiry Estrada flashes a partially capped smile as she gratefully recalls her first maquila job twisting electrical wires with latex-tipped fingers.
▪
The engine fired on the fourth kick and he flashed her a victorious smile .
▪
She flashes a crooked smile , the one she says makes her look like Popeye the Sailor.
▪
Back on the ship afterwards, she flashed the smile one more time - and then whisked away to her own cabin.
▪
Tia Flor confides to Yolanda, flashing her famous smile .
▪
Catching Stella watching him he flashed her an extravagant smile .
▪
He hands them over, and you flash an uncomfortable smile .
tooth
▪
She had scarcely finished clapping enthusiastically when she found him next to her, smiling and flashing his pearl-white teeth .
▪
Two more of the creatures hovered around the craft, walking over the wings and flashing their teeth at the hysterical passengers.
▪
She flashed her teeth at me.
torch
▪
When she took off her glasses the sun caught her eyes and made them flash like green torches .
▪
Blagg had tried a brief smile when Maxim flashed the torch on himself for identification, but didn't speak.
▪
He flashed his torch up on to the walls and had another look at the barbed wire.
▪
Up in the bows, one of the bureaucrats flashed a torch twice, waited five seconds and repeated the signal.
▪
At intervals I wandered round the camp, flashing my powerful torch into the darkness.
warning
▪
A sudden hiss came from the radiator and simultaneously the overheating signal on the dash flashed a warning red.
▪
She, who knew me well, understood and flashed a warning glance at me.
▪
Drivers are flashed a warning if their vehicles break an infra-red beam projected across the road.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
go/run/flash etc through sb's mind
▪
I began to wonder what might be going through her mind .
▪
Over and over it ran through his mind .
▪
Perhaps more mundane thoughts went through her mind .
▪
The one occasion which was flashing through Yanto's mind at this moment involved just three of the local water babies.
▪
The past twenty-two months flashed through my mind like film run at high speed, and suddenly I felt rather tired.
▪
The thought ran through my mind I heard chaos outside.
▪
This was staggering new information, and all kinds of ideas were flashing through our minds .
▪
Who lived there and what was going through their minds ?
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
A police car sped through the intersection, lights flashing.
▪
Detective Mallory flashed his badge as he walked through the door.
▪
He flashed his membership card as passed through the door.
▪
Lightning flashed across the sky.
▪
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled.
▪
Two police officers burst in, the latter hurriedly flashing his ID card at her as they made their way upstairs.
▪
Why did that guy flash his headlights at me?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He remembers thinking in amazement that his name also was being flashed on screens in thousands of other movie theaters.
▪
If it flashes heavily, turn it down.
▪
It's like she flashed a bright light in my eyes, and I have to look away.
▪
Muskets were swung as clubs, pistols were fired point-blank, and swords flashed and clanged.
▪
Returning workers flashed special identification cards issued by the union and walked in.
▪
When she took off her glasses the sun caught her eyes and made them flash like green torches.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
blinding
▪
Full awareness and memory returned in a blinding flash .
▪
In a blinding flash , everything fell into place.
▪
We'd only gone a short distance from the trees when suddenly we were hit by a blinding flash .
▪
She was aware of a blinding flash of pain as he mastered her, and groaned weakly.
▪
But something was telling her it was no slip - and then, in a blinding flash , she knew!
brief
▪
There was a brief flash of white that could have been Faith, then nothing.
▪
Theatrical characters are designed to be interpreted, but only in the brief flashes of performance.
▪
As he left she caught a brief flash of sapphire from his head.
▪
He enjoyed the brief flash of jealousy and the home comforts.
bright
▪
Straightaway I went off and had a bright red flash put in across the front of my hair.
▪
As they walked upstairs, there was a bright flash of lightning outside, followed by loud thunder.
▪
Chen stood up, a cry coming to his lips as he saw the bright flash of a knife being drawn.
brilliant
▪
The witnesses would say later that the searingly brilliant white flash seemed to last for several seconds.
▪
Over 20, 000 residents are awakened by a brilliant flash of light and heat to find their city in flames.
▪
Then, when it is all over ... Out of the darkness there came a single brilliant flash .
▪
The brilliant flash of wing colours in the Butterfly House are alone worth a visit.
▪
The water poured off the roofs in torrents, and thunderstorms rent the night skies with brilliant flashes of lightning.
hot
▪
As annoying as hot flashes may be, remember that menopause is a temporary condition.
▪
Credited with everything from obliterating hot flashes to relieving pain, soy is one of the current health-media darlings.
▪
If one of us goes through menopause, we all suffer a collective hot flash .
▪
Estrogen replacement relieves such symptoms of menopause as hot flashes and night sweats, reduces bone loss and relieves vaginal dryness.
▪
But besides estrogen therapy there are no medical therapies known to stop the hot flashes and improve sleep.
▪
Sleeping pills are not recommended for women who awake because of hot flashes .
occasional
▪
Both men fired repeatedly, guided by the occasional flash of a rifle ahead of them.
▪
It never happened, despite occasional flashes and poignant near-misses.
▪
Mark Bassey on trombone and lain Dixon on reeds Punchy and cogent music, with occasional flashes of humour.
▪
A slight breeze picks up and you see only occasional flashes of distant lightning that still illuminate the whole sky.
▪
Speelman has the reputation of being a very solid player with occasional flashes of mercurial originality and brilliance.
quick
▪
The days of numbing despair had been reduced to quick flashes of temper that Duvall always managed to calm.
sudden
▪
She had a sudden flash of a daydream.
▪
Nick spotted it by the sudden flash of light on its chassis, then put it from his mind.
▪
I can knit, thought Leonora with a sudden flash of self-knowledge.
▪
Three hours' extremely cold and tedious observation had been ruined by the sudden flash of this light several years earlier.
▪
A sudden flash of annoyance went through him.
white
▪
The witnesses would say later that the searingly brilliant white flash seemed to last for several seconds.
▪
At that moment, there came a terrible white flash , brighter than the Sun, which temporarily blinded me.
■ NOUN
lightning
▪
As I found out later, a metal necklace he was wearing had taken the full brunt of the lightning flash .
▪
In the distance I can hear the rumble of thunder and see lightning flash from cloud to cloud.
▪
Friend's triumph flared like a lightning flash .
▪
I see those lightning flashes again, colors striking.
▪
Thunder rolled up from his chest, and lightning flashes glittered in his eyes.
▪
It was like that endless moment, Sabine thought, between the lightning flash and the first crackle of thunder.
▪
This fortuitous cooperation of lightning flashes and motor car exhausts was producing results in fairly populated areas at night.
news
▪
Important deaths come in special news flashes , or as the first item, not at the end.
▪
This is not a news flash to the twins.
▪
A radio playing somewhere was interrupted by a news flash .
■ VERB
blind
▪
The captain and rear admiral, viewing the aircraft-launching operations from the island, are blinded by the flash .
▪
The onlookers, blinded by the flash , burned by its searing heat, covered their eyes and cringed in terror.
▪
A blinding flash illuminated the darkness, and the terrible discharge of musketry resounded through the woods.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
a flash of lightning
▪
There was a bright flash of light as the bomb exploded.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
As annoying as hot flashes may be, remember that menopause is a temporary condition.
▪
I think people thought in the beginning I was going to be a flash in the pan, like Tiny Tim.
▪
If one of us goes through menopause, we all suffer a collective hot flash .
▪
The mints must be hard and dry for the best results and some produce, as I have seen, impressive flashes.
▪
The muzzle flash that accompanied their arrival came from inside the house.
▪
When a flash of lightning lit up the sky to the south we decided we'd better go now!
▪
With a terrible flash that all but blinded the onlookers the island vanished, around it the storm of magical energy.
III. adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Flash fires swept through the Los Angeles foothills last night.