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torch

noun
/tɔːtʃ/UK/tɔɹt͡ʃ/US

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”). Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lămpắdă părădidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another. The verb is derived from the noun.

  1. derived from *terkʷ-✻ — “to spin; to turn”
  2. derived from torqua
  3. derived from *torca✻ — “coiled object”
  4. derived from torche
  5. inherited from torch

Definitions

  1. A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable…

    A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground, and used chiefly as a light source.

    • The mob of angry villagers carried torches and pitchforks to the vampire’s castle.
    • Enter at one doore Æneas, at another Paris, Deiphobus, Antemor [i.e., Antenor], Diomed [i.e., Diomedes] vvith torches.

  2. A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.

  3. A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.

  4. ›+ 15 more definitions

    1. The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).

    2. A cactus with a very elongated body

      A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.

    3. A source of enlightenment or guidance.

      • [T]he Scholars of our eyes, / Our Beaux from Gallantry vvould ſoon be vviſe; / VVould gladly light, their homage to improve, / The Lamp of Knovvledge at the Torch of Love!

    4. In carry, hand on, pass on, take up the torch

      In carry, hand on, pass on, take up the torch: a precious cause, principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others.

    5. Ellipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).

    6. Ellipsis of blowtorch (“a tool which projects a controlled stream of a highly flammable…

      Ellipsis of blowtorch (“a tool which projects a controlled stream of a highly flammable gas over a spark in order to produce a controlled flame”).

    7. An arsonist.

    8. To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1).

    9. To intentionally destroy (something) by setting it on fire, especially when committing…

      To intentionally destroy (something) by setting it on fire, especially when committing arson in furtherance of some other criminal act (e.g. insurance fraud or the destruction of evidence).

      • Some hoodlums had torched a derelict automobile, which emitted a ghastly pall of thick, black smoke that filled the street.

    10. To make damaging claims about (someone or something)

      To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult.

      • That influencer torched the company’s PR department.

    11. Of a fire

      Of a fire: to burn.

      • The flames torched up twenty feet in the air.

    12. To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by…

      To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).

    13. To (appear to) flare up like a torch.

    14. To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight

      To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing.

    15. To point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths)…

      To point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths) using lime hair mortar.

The neighborhood

Derived

carry a torch, carry the torch, carry a torch for, dynamo torch, hold a torch for, oxy-gas torch, pass the torch, Peruvian torch, put to the torch, torchbearer, torchbearing, torch ginger, Torch Lake, torch lamp, torchless, torchlight, torchlighted, torchlit, torch lighter, torchlike, torch lily, torchmaker, torchman, torch runner, torchship, torch singer, torch song, torchwood, torchwork, torchwort, torchy, torchable, torch down, torcher, torch up

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for torch. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA