/tɔːtʃ/, /tɔɹt͡ʃ/
OriginThe 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.
- 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.”
“[A]mongſt the ancients there vvas Amor Lethes [Love Dies], hee tooke burning torches, and extinguiſhed them in the riuer, his ſtatua vvas to be ſeene in the Temple of Venus Eiuſina, of vvhich Ovid mak”
- broadlyA similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.
“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 ”
“The degradation of the [Olympic] torch worldwide—it had to be snuffed out more than once to protect it from protesters—even provoked angry Chinese students to mobilise "150 strong and energetic runner”
“The Paris 2024 Paralympic Torch, characterised by its sparkling champaign^([sic – meaning champagne]) colour and unique design, represents the spirit of the Games. […] With its gentle curves, the torc”
- Commonwealth, abbreviation, alt-of, broadly, ellipsisEllipsis of electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”).
“Ernst slipped and dropped his torch on the flagstones, shattering the bulb and plunging us into darkness.”
“We were too excited to return to the camp, but must make our first exploration at once. Lord John had an electric torch in his knapsack, and this had to serve us as light.”
“I want you to send two unarmed policemen into the tunnel, carrying the money, and waving a torch in front of them.”
- broadlyA flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.
- broadlyA spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.
“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 othe”
- broadly, in-pluralThe common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).
“[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 ”
- broadly, obsoleteA cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.
“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 vvax”
- figurativelyA 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!”
- figurativelyIn carry, hand on, pass on, take up the torch: a precious cause, principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others.
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
- Canada, US, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of blowtorch (“a tool which projects a controlled stream of a highly flammable gas over a spark in order to produce a controlled flame”).
- US, slangAn arsonist.
“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”
“Upon the advice of the prosecutor, who was already at the arson unit's office, the torches were not arrested, but "detained" and offered the opportunity to cooperate with the investigators in their ef”
“A registered confidential informant may provide information, either that a particular building has been targeted to burn or that an identified "torch" has been contracted to burn some unknown building”
- transitiveTo illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun etymology 1 sense 1).
- informal, transitiveTo 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.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo 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.”
- intransitiveOf a fire: to burn.
“The flames torched up twenty feet in the air.”
- intransitiveTo travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
- UK, dialectal, figuratively, intransitiveTo (appear to) flare up like a torch.
- US, intransitiveTo catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing.
- archaic, historical, transitiveTo point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths) using lime hair mortar.
Formstorches(plural) · torches(present, singular, third-person) · torching(participle, present) · torched(participle, past) · torched(past)