flash vs flourish

flash

verb
  • To flaunt; to display in a showy manner. 

  • To blink; to shine or illuminate intermittently. 

  • To cover with a thin layer, as objects of glass with glass of a different colour. 

  • To burst out into violence. 

  • To send by some startling or sudden means. 

  • To release the pressure from a pressurized vessel. 

  • To evaporate suddenly. (See flash evaporation.) 

  • To expand (blown glass) into a disc. 

  • To move, or cause to move, suddenly. 

  • To telephone a person, only allowing the phone to ring once, in order to request a call back. 

  • To expose one's intimate body part or piece of clothing, often momentarily. (Contrast streak.) 

  • To write to the memory of (an updatable component such as a BIOS chip or games cartridge). 

  • To cause to shine briefly or intermittently. 

  • To perform a flash. 

  • To be visible briefly. 

  • To climb (a route) successfully on the first attempt. 

  • To make visible briefly. 

  • To break forth like a sudden flood of light; to show a momentary brilliance. 

  • To communicate quickly. 

noun
  • A language, created by a minority to maintain cultural identity, that cannot be understood by the ruling class. 

  • The strips of bright cloth or buttons worn around the collars of market traders. 

  • A pool. 

  • Pizzazz, razzle-dazzle. 

  • Material left around the edge of a moulded part at the parting line of the mould. 

  • A sudden, short, temporary burst of light. 

  • The (intentional or unintentional) exposure of an intimate body part or undergarment in public. 

  • Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genera Artipe, Deudorix and Rapala. 

  • A reservoir and sluiceway beside a navigable stream, just above a shoal, so that the stream may pour in water as boats pass, and thus bear them over the shoal. 

  • A brief exposure or making visible (of a smile, badge, etc). 

  • A form of military insignia. 

  • A pattern where each prop is thrown and caught only once. 

  • A flashlight; an electric torch. 

  • The sudden sensation of being "high" after taking a recreational drug. 

  • A very short amount of time. 

  • A tattoo flash (example design on paper to give an idea of a possible tattoo). 

  • A sudden and brilliant burst, as of genius or wit. 

adj
  • Occurring very rapidly, almost instantaneously. 

  • Expensive-looking and demanding attention; stylish; showy. 

  • Having plenty of ready money. 

  • Liable to show off expensive possessions or money. 

flourish

verb
  • To adorn with beautiful figures or rhetoric; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish. 

  • To thrive or grow well. 

  • To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion. 

  • To make bold, sweeping movements with. 

  • To be in a period of greatest influence. 

  • To prosper or fare well. 

  • To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions. 

  • To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude. 

  • To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures. 

  • To develop; to make thrive; to expand. 

noun
  • A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare. 

  • An ornamentation. 

  • A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag. 

  • A decorative embellishment on a building. 

How often have the words flash and flourish occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )