torch
(tôrch)n.1. a. A portable light produced by the flame of a stick of resinous wood or of a flammable material wound about the end of a stick of wood; a flambeau.
b. Chiefly British A flashlight.
2. Something that serves to illuminate, enlighten, or guide.
3. Slang An arsonist.
4. A portable apparatus that produces a very hot flame by the combustion of gases, used in welding and construction.
5. Longstanding unrequited romantic feelings for a person: My torch for her has finally gone out.
tr.v. torched,
torch·ing,
torch·es Slang To cause to burn or undergo combustion, especially with extraordinary rapidity, force, or thoroughness.
Idioms: carry a torch To have longstanding feelings of love that are not requited: still carrying the torch for a man she knew in her twenties.
put to the torch To destroy by fire; burn down.
[Middle English
torche, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin
*torca, alteration of Latin
torqua, variant of
torquēs,
torque, from Latin
torquēre,
to twist; see
terkw- in
Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
torch
(tɔːtʃ) n1. (Electronics) a small portable electric lamp powered by one or more dry batteries. US and Canadian word: flashlight
2. a wooden or tow shaft dipped in wax or tallow and set alight
3. anything regarded as a source of enlightenment, guidance, etc: the torch of evangelism.
4. (Tools) any apparatus that burns with a hot flame for welding, brazing, or soldering
5. carry a torch for to be in love with, esp unrequitedly
6. put to the torch to set fire to; burn down: the looted monastery was put to the torch.
vb (tr) slang to set fire to, esp deliberately as an act of arson
[C13: from Old French torche handful of twisted straw, from Vulgar Latin torca (unattested), from Latin torquēre to twist]
ˈtorchˌlike adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
torch
(tɔrtʃ)
n. 1. a light, usu. carried in the hand, consisting of a stick of resinous wood, tallow-soaked flax, or some other flammable substance, ignited at the upper end.
2. something considered as a source of illumination, enlightenment, or guidance: the torch of learning.
3. any of various lamplike devices producing a hot flame, used for soldering, burning off paint, etc.
4. Slang. an arsonist.
v.t. 6. to subject to the flame or light of a torch.
7. to set fire to, esp. maliciously.
Idioms: carry a or the torch for, to be in love with, esp. without being loved in return.
[1250–1300; Middle English
torche (n.) < Old French < Vulgar Latin
*torca a twist of straw, something twisted. See
torque1]
torch′a•ble, adj.
torch′like`, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.