Word Origin & History
flashlate 14c., from flasken (c.1300) "to dash or splash" (as water), probably imitative. Related: Flashed. Sense of "give off a sudden burst of light or flame" is 1540s, as is the noun. Meaning "photographic lamp" is from 1913. Flash in the pan (1809) is from old-style guns, where the powder might ignite
EXPANDin the pan but fail to spark the main charge. Flash flood is from 1940; flash point (also flashpoint) is from 1878, figurative use by 1955.
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