1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 79. I have not exactly recovered from the severe effects of the repeated flashes of lightning and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to encounter last night.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf (quoted in). But ere they homeward pik’d it, A flash of lightning was sarv’d round to every one as lik’d it.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, (ed. 1854), p. 141. The thunders of eloquence being hushed, flashes of lightning, or, as the vulgar say, ‘glasses of gin’ gleamed about.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 168. The stimulant of a flash of lightning … for so a dram of neat spirit was then called.
1862. E. MacDermott, Popular Guide to International Exhibition, 1862, p. 185. In the vestibule of each refreshment room there is an American bar, where visitors may indulge in … gum-ticklers, eye-openers, flashes of lightning … and a variety of similar beverages.
2. (nautical). The gold braid on an officer’s cap.
Flash in the Pan, subs. phr. (venery).—Connection without emission. Cf. Dry-Bob (q.v.). Also verbally.
1719. Durfey, Pills, v., 340. Still hawking, still baulking, You flash in the pan.
Flashy, adj., and Flashily, or Flashly, adv. (old: now colloquial). Empty; showy; tawdry; insipid.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 123. Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.