Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†FLASH, n.1 “A depository for timber” (Leith 1808 Jam.).
[This appears to have been a piece of flat ground at the edge of the Forth, liable to be overflowed at high tides. The word is therefore probably to be associated with Eng. flash, flosh, (also flask), common in place-names, e.g. in Lth. and N.England, meaning “a pool, a marshy place,” Mid.Eng. flasshe, id., and of doubtful etymology. Some suggest that it is an onomat. alteration, influenced by (s)plash, of Dan. flask, a swampy piece of grassland. Resemblance to Fr. flache, plash, puddle, pool, is prob. fortuitous. Cf. the related word Flush.]
