2007-07-30 00:38:56 · 8 answers · asked by wt r 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
To incite or initiate something.
2007-07-30 00:42:11 · answer #1 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The origin is from the days of matchlock musketry, before the flintlocks. The fuse would be lit, and sometimes when the powder was touched off, it wouldn't ignite properly, and would flash out the hole where the fuse was. It created a "flash" of fire, rather than the explosion needed. The powder charge was located in what was called the "pan".
So, a flash in the pan is a bright fire that doesn't do what was intended, a brilliant failure.
2007-07-30 08:09:31 · answer #2 · answered by open4one 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Like a singer who gets a number one in the
charts then is never herd of again,a flash in the pan.
2007-07-30 07:48:37 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a saying from the 1800's, at least. It refers to the bright flash from minerals in a gold-miner's sluicing pan not from genuine gold but from worthless rock that caught the light for a moment.
2007-07-30 07:50:02 · answer #4 · answered by Tseruyah 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Spectacular for a moment then over and gone forever.
From cooking, where you may dowse something with a liquer and light it for a moment to carmelize. It only lasts for a few seconds but flames brightly until the liquer is consumed.
2007-07-30 07:44:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sanjaya.
2007-08-02 18:42:20 · answer #6 · answered by Fritz Milan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means you have a short history. Here today...gone tomorrow.
2007-08-02 20:30:21 · answer #7 · answered by prius2005toy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it means some one who is famous briefly or something that is popular briefly
2007-07-30 08:11:59 · answer #8 · answered by FOA 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋