'patter,' or a song interlarded with cant words and phrases); flash-man (q.v.); flash-note (= a spurious bank-note); flash-rider (American, see broncho-buster); flash toggery (= smart clothes; flash vessel (= a gaudy looking, but undisciplined ship)].
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, [1890,] p. 58. The rusticity of Jerry was fast wearing off . . . and he bid fair, etc. . . . to chaff with the flash mollishers.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. Soon then I mounted in Swell St. High, And sported my flashiest toggery.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 14. The other dances are jigs—flash jigs—hornpipes in fetters—a dance rendered popular by the success of the noted Jack Sheppard.
Verb (common).—1. To show;
to expose.
[Among combinations may be mentioned, to flash ones ivories = to show one's teeth, to grin (Grose); to flash the hash = to vomit (Grose); to flash the dickey = to show the shirt front; to flash the dibs = to show or spend one's money; to flash a fawney = to wear a ring; to flash one's gab = to talk, to swagger, to brag; to flash the bubs = to expose the paps; to flash the muzzle (q.v.); to flash one's ticker = to air one's watch; to flash the drag = to wear women's clothes for immoral purposes; to flash the white grin = see grin; to flash it (q.v.), or to flash one's meat (cf., meat-flasher); to flash a bit (q.v.); to flash the flag = to sport an apron; to flash the wedge = to 'fence' the swag, etc.]
1812. Vaux, Flash Dict. Don't flash your sticks, don't expose your pistols.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 2. His lordship, as usual, that very great dab At the flowers of rhet'ric, is flashing his gab.
1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc. He flashed the blunt, made a show of money to dazzle the spectators.
1825. E. Kent, Modern Flash Dict. Flashing his ivory, shew his teeth.
1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, (ed. 1864), p. 176.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. 'The Dead Drummer.' When traveling, don't flash your notes or your cash before other people—its foolish and rash.
1887. W. E. Henley, Villon's Good-Night. Likewise you molls that flash your bubs, For swells to spot and stand you sam.
1887. W. E. Henley, Straight Tip. Go crying croaks, or flash the drag.
To flash a bit, verbal phr. (venery).—To show up; to permit examination; 'to spread' (q.v.); to behave indecently. Said of women only.
To flash it, or to flash one's meat.—To expose the person. [Hence meat-flasher] (q.v.). Said usually of men.
To flash the muzzle (old).—To produce a pistol.
c. 1823. Ballad (quoted in Don Juan xi.). On the high toby spice flash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.
To flash it about, or to cut a flash or dash, verbal phr. (common).—To make a display; to live conspicuously and extravagantly.
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 220. He flashed it about a good deal for a long time, going from one place to another. Sometimes he was a lord, at others an earl.
To go flashing it, verb. phr. (venery).—To have sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Flash-Case (or -Crib, -House,
-Drum, -Ken, -Panny, etc).—1.
A house frequented by thieves, as
a tavern, lodging-house, fence
(q.v.).
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew Flash-ken, c., a house where thieves use, and are connived at.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1821. D. Haggart, Life, 'Glossary,' p. 172. Flash-kain, a house for receiving
