In "Slang in the Spotlight", I will highlight a historical slang (or cant) term once in a while, because these are the words that most people will be unfamiliar with. The first word is "flash" and the meaning and quotes are taken from J.C. Hotten's Dictionary of Modern Cant, Slang and Vulgar Language (1859), and The Old Bailey Proceedings Online respectively.
FLASH.
Showy and knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed flash, when his garb is showy and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be flash when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. Flash also means "fast", roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive, and this perhaps is its general signification. "Flash, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles' Greek" -- Tom and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first term Flash in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of "The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of flash words". (Hotten 1859: 39)
Term can also be used as a verb for "showing something":
FLASH.
Showy and knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed flash, when his garb is showy and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be flash when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. Flash also means "fast", roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive, and this perhaps is its general signification. "Flash, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles' Greek" -- Tom and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first term Flash in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of "The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of flash words". (Hotten 1859: 39)
- I swear they were Bank of England notes, notes, not hair dressers' flash notes; I never saw a flash note they were exactly as Bank notes. (Trial Francis Hall, 19 February 1829)
- When I went in [the room] I heard the word, ding it, come from the yard. Q. Was there any way for any persons in the yard seeing you? - No, I only knew it to be a flash word, meaning, to put it on one side (Trial of Druce and Bowling, 18 February 1795)
- He [Berry] changed a guinea, and gave me five shillings, and bid me not to be extravagant; he gave me that, as he said, to flash to the boys, to shew it to them, and say, I made that last night; I was to pull it out all at once. (Trial of M'Daniel, Berry, Egan, 1 March 1755)
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