Flash-point
noun
1.
Also, flashing point. Physical Chemistry. the lowest temperature at which a liquid in a specified apparatus will give off sufficient vapor to ignite momentarily on application of a flame.
2.
a critical point or stage at which something or someone suddenly causes or creates some significant action:
A 10 percent drop in mortgage rates will produce a flash point in the housing market.
3.
a critical situation or area having the potential of erupting in sudden violence:
The Mideast has been the flash point for a series of conflicts.
noun
1.
the lowest temperature at which the vapour above a liquid can be ignited in air
2.
a critical moment beyond which a situation will inevitably erupt into violence: the political mood has reached flash point
flash point
The lowest temperature at which the vapor of a flammable liquid will ignite in air. The flash point is generally lower than the temperature needed for the liquid itself to ignite.
For a given flammable substance, the lowest temperature at which vapors passing from the substance into the air will catch fire spontaneously if a small flame is present.
noun phrase
The place or time when something ”takes fire,” becomes exciting and exemplary: We want the White House to function as a flash point for whatever’s great in this couintry
[1990s+; in the technical sense, ”lowest point of ignition of a fluid, compound, etc,” the term is found by the 1870s]
Read Also:
- Flash roll
noun phrase A bundle of cash shown as proof that the holder is in funds: thinking it would make for a fatter looking flash roll/ showed suspects six million in cash as front or flash money to prove that they indeed had funds (1970s+)
- Flash rom
Flash Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
- Flashs
[flash] /flæʃ/ noun 1. a precedence code for handling messages about initial enemy contact or operational combat messages of extreme urgency within the U.S. military. /flæʃ/ noun 1. a sudden short blaze of intense light or flame: a flash of sunlight 2. a sudden occurrence or display, esp one suggestive of brilliance: a flash of […]
- Flash set
noun 1. (civil engineering) undesirably rapid setting of cement in concrete
- Flash smelting
noun 1. a smelting process for sulphur-containing ores in which the dried and powdered ore, mixed with oxygen, is ignited on discharge from a nozzle, melts, and drops to the bottom of a settling chamber. Sulphur is released mainly in its solid form, thus reducing atmospheric pollution