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Torch
Definitions
- 1 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."
- 2 a burner that mixes air and gas to produce a very hot flame wordnet
- 3 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.; A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end. broadly
"Eleven days before the start of the [modern Olympic] Games, a flaming torch is ignited by the sun in Olympia at the ruins of the ancient Temple of Zeus. With that flame, relay runners lighted torches one from the other and carry it to the opening of the Games. Ever since 1936, the Summer Olympics has had its fire-font lit by a relay torch ignited at Olympia."
- 4 a small portable battery-powered electric lamp wordnet
- 5 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.; Ellipsis of electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”). Commonwealth, abbreviation, alt-of, broadly, ellipsis
"Ernst slipped and dropped his torch on the flagstones, shattering the bulb and plunging us into darkness."
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- 6 a light usually carried in the hand; consists of some flammable substance wordnet
- 7 A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame. broadly
- 8 tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in tallow for funeral torches wordnet
- 9 A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets. broadly
"Of this kinde, there is founde an other, the Spikes, eares, or torches wherof, are very dubble, ſo as in euery Spyky eare, in ſteede of the little knappes or heades, it bringeth forth a number of other ſmal torches, wherof eche one is lyke to the ſpike or torch of great Plantayne."
- 10 The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus). broadly, in-plural
"[page 118] The white male Mulleyn (or rather Wolleyn) hath […] the whole top with his pleaſant yellow floures ſheweth like to a waxe Candell or taper cunningly wrought. […] [pages 119–120] Mulleyn is called […] in English alſo Tapſus barbatus, Mulleyne, or rather Wulleyn, Hig[h]taper, Torches, and Longworte: […]"
- 11 A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle. broadly, obsolete
"Cereus Peruuianus ſpinoſus L'Obelij. The torch, or thornie Euphorbium. […] [T]his plant, vvhich is called of the Indians in their mother toong Vragua, vvhich is as much to ſay, a torch, taper, or vvaxe candle, vvhereupon it hath been called in Latine of thoſe that vnderſtoode the Indian toong, Cereus, or a torch […] riſeth vp to the height of a ſpeare of 20. foote long, […]"
- 12 A source of enlightenment or guidance. figuratively
"[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!"
- 13 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. figuratively
- 14 Ellipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 15 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”). Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 16 An arsonist. US, slang
"Some years ago, another Houston torch attached a kitchen match to the bell striker on an ordinary telephone so that it would vibrate when the phone rang. He placed a piece of sandpaper close enough to the match so that when the bell rang, the match rubbed the surface of the sandpaper and started a fire. The torch, after setting up the device, drove to a town many miles from his home and then dialed his home number, successfully starting a fire in his own home."
- 1 To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun etymology 1 sense 1). transitive
- 2 To point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths) using lime hair mortar. archaic, historical, transitive
- 3 burn maliciously, as by arson wordnet
- 4 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). informal, transitive
"Some hoodlums had torched a derelict automobile, which emitted a ghastly pall of thick, black smoke that filled the street."
- 5 To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult. figuratively, transitive
"That influencer torched the company’s PR department."
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- 6 Of a fire: to burn. intransitive
"The flames torched up twenty feet in the air."
- 7 To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”). intransitive
- 8 To (appear to) flare up like a torch. UK, dialectal, figuratively, intransitive
- 9 To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing. US, intransitive
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.
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.
Borrowed from French torcher (“to daub; to wipe; to build or plaster with clay mixed with chopped straw”), from torche (“bundle of (twisted) straw; torch”) (see further at etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming the infinitives of first-conjugation verbs).
See also for "torch"
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