flashlight

plural flashlights

1. CanadaPhilippinesUSA battery-powered hand-held light source.

   I shone my flashlight on the strange inscription.

   1 more example

   At school he used to do Dr. Jekyll turning into Mr. Hyde, shining a flashlight into his face.

   1997, Saul Bellow, The Actual, New York: Viking, page 32

   Synonyms: electric torch, torch

2. A flashgun (device used to create flashes of light for photography).

   He sat in an arm-chair with his forefinger to his temple, and when the photographer's flashlight went off, he hoped that the hotel had caught fire and that this would end it all.

   1943, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XIII, in Gideon Planish, London: Jonathan Cape, page 121

   2 more examples

   […] the flashlight exploded like a tiny bomb, making the Vicar jump a little, which explains why his face is a thankful blur, his deadly role forgotten to history (I have the photograph before me now).

   1992, Adam Thorpe, Ulverton, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, published 1994, page 235

   […] two or three bright flashlights went off close to us. It seemed that some prominent person was being quickly interviewed by reporters and photographed just before the ship left.

   2006, Stefan Zweig, translated by Anthea Bell, Chess, London: Penguin

3. obsoleteA photograph taken with a flash camera.

present singular third person flashlights · participle present flashlighting · participle past flashlit · past flashlit · participle past flashlighted · past flashlighted

1. transitiveTo illuminate with a flashlight.

   Autis stepped carefully while flashlighting the fog in front of himself and Gar.

   2011, Bart Bare, Wadmalaw: A Ghost Story, page 51