flash in the pan

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From the days of flintlock firearms, where the main charge was intended to be fired by a small charge of gunpowder in the flash pan. If the resultant fire did not pass through the touch hole and ignite the main charge, it produced noise and smoke, but no substantial effect, and was termed a flash in the pan. Sometimes called fluff in the pan, the term refers to any ineffectual, short, spasmodic effort that dies in the attempt, such as an explosion of priming in the lockpan of a gun while the gun itself does not go off.

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Catalan: flamarada — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Chinese Mandarin: 曇花一現 /昙花一现 (tánhuāyīxiàn) — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Dumbea: fx9s — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Finnish: tähdenlento — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• French: feu de paille — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• German: Strohfeuer — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• German: Eintagsfliege — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Hungarian: szalmaláng (szerű teljesítmény) — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Hungarian: rövid fellángolás — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Hungarian: egyszeri felvillanás — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Hungarian: gyorsan elmúló siker — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Irish: gal soip — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Irish: rith searraigh — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Italian: fuoco di paglia — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Polish: słomiany zapał — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Portuguese: fogo de palha — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Spanish: llamarada de petate — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Spanish: flor de un día — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Swedish: dagslända — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Thai: ไฟไหม้ฟาง (fai-mâi-faang) — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Turkish: saman alevi — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Welsh: siafins — transient occurrence with no long-term effect
• Welsh: tân eithin — transient occurrence with no long-term effect