backflash

[ bak-flash ]

noun

1. a flashback:

   Backflashes of the heroine's childhood fill in gaps in the novel's narrative.

Word History and Origins

Origin of backflash¹

First recorded in 1930–35; back ² + flash

Example Sentences

The backflash was a rise in racism and attacks on the president that were unending, from total obstruction in the Senate that has continued in an unprecedented and unconstitutional way so that even the president's nomination of a Supreme Court justice has been blocked for almost a year.

From New York Times

Each Parker novel opens with an action sentence, such as this one from “Backflash”: “When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the windshield and crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first.”

From Washington Post

There was, of course, practically no chance of keeping Ullerans from having native weapons, swords, knives, even bows and air-rifles, and a certain number of Volund-made trade-quality automatic pistols could be expected, but most of the fire was coming from military rifles, and now and then he could see the furnace-like backflash of a recoilless rifle or a bazooka, or the steady flicker of a machine-gun.

From Project Gutenberg