flash, v.³ — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

flash v.³

[compounded by drug imagery]

1. to notice.

1909		H. Green Mr. Jackson 197: ‘What if the elbows flash us?’ whispered Henry.
1921		H.C. Witwer Leather Pushers 196: The minute he flashed me he dragged me into a little room.
1927		C. Coe Me – Gangster 191: As soon as I flashed Gip I recognized him from pictures I had seen in the papers.
1927		C. Drew ‘Grafter and Goose’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. n.p.: There was not much time to be lost if a goose was to be flashed before barrier-rise.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 113: The hatch popped open. Pete B. jumped out. Wayne flashed him. Pete waved and winked.

2. to amaze, to impress.

1972

E. Grogan Ringolevio 275: He flashed everyone with his ability to make hip-sounding remarks.

flash on (v.)

1. to have a sudden inspiration, memory, moment of absolute comprehension etc.

1888		J. Runciman Chequers 79: Then it flashed on me. ‘This beauty has heard of me from the Suffolk gipsies.’.
1938		(con. 1900s) in J.B. Booth Sporting Times 88: ‘Your old pot and pan must be half a tree!’ / Said the cove; and it flashed on Meg.
1968		N. von Hoffman We are the People Our Parents Warned Us Against 161: I go on peace marches because they’re groovy. I flash on the experience.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 13: She just flashed on it: for once in her life she ought to put her own needs right up front.
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 99: I flash on a time ten years ago when I was at my mother’s rural church.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 137: Bitsy flashed on the idea that if he left Hogan’s name out of it [...] they’d be out looking for him.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 137: He’d been trying to nap, but he’d flashed on Jimmy, and knew then that he’d never get to sleep.
2008		T. Dorsey Atomic Lobster 85: Just before I came, I started flashing on Andrew Jackson.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 13: We’d flash on the little girl a couple of times a day [...] Step through a doorway and see her on the floor of the mobile home, intuit her terror.

2. to catch sight of.

1936		Wodehouse ‘The Amazing Hat Mystery’ in Young Men in Spats 101: ‘I’ve never yet flashed upon her in a topper’.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 71: He flashed almost immediately on the three [...] shadow figures in the darkness.
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 36: His eyes flashed on hers from the front to the back of the room.