aflashadj.
/əˈflaʃ/, U.S. /əˈflæʃ/ literary.
Flashing, briefly or intermittently bright.
ΚΠ
1852 Godey's Lady's Bk. May 320/2 The broad Wabash was all aflash With flames of dismal hue.
1876 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 177 And crush-silk poppies aflash.
1885 W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. July 136/2 Your eyes are all a-flash.
1931 T. S. Moore Poems 9 Aflash as are dewy pansies Were the eyes that she raised to meet men's.
1979 A. Hecht Venetian Vespers (1980) i. 30 Waving, tasselled marshgrass, Deep pools aflash with sharp, Shingled and burnished armor-plate Of sacred, child-eyed carp.
1997 Gallop! Jan. 68 Harvey, startled by an oncoming, clanking, lights aflash tractor, leapt backwards over a hedge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
† aflashv.
Obsolete. rare.
transitive. To pour water in quantity and with force; to dash, splash.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > liquid flow > action or process of splashing > splash [verb (intransitive)]
aflasha1387
flouse1567
plash1596
splash1715
splather1877
splosh1930
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > wave > movement of waves > move restlessly about [verb (intransitive)] > dash in pieces
aflasha1387
break1489
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 63 (MED) Þe Rede see is nouȝt rede of kynde, but aflascheþ and wascheþ oon rede clyues and stones, and so is i-died rede as a rose.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1852
v.a1387