blowtorch

American  

[bloh-tawrch] / ˈbloʊˌtɔrtʃ /

noun

blowtorches plural

1. a small portable apparatus that gives an extremely hot gasoline flame intensified by a blast, used especially in metalworking.

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verb (used with object)

1. to weld, burn, or ignite with or as with a blowtorch.

blowtorch British  

/ ˈbləʊˌtɔːtʃ /

noun

1. a small burner that produces a very hot flame, used to remove old paint, melt soft metal, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• blowtorches
  plural

Etymology

Origin of blowtorch

First recorded in 1905–10; blow ² + torch ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blowtorch blowtorches

Left behind on the street outside the Louvre was the truck, a jerry can, a blowtorch, angle grinders, a walkie-talkie and yellow vests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Police found an angle-grinder and a blowtorch at the scene.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2025

That was the assumption, at least, until Wednesday, when Moss took a blowtorch to those plans, scorching Louisville for 372 yards and six scores that shattered both USC and Holiday Bowl touchdown records.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2023

“The wind was so terrible it was just like a blowtorch, and once we would get certain areas put out it would just reignite,” she said.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 3, 2023

I felt like the vertebrae in my spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.

From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

Firefighters were eventually forced to melt it down after fans attempted to thaw the sculpture with blowtorches and chip away at it with sledgehammers.

From BBC ● May 15, 2026

Employees told firefighters that work was being performed on the roof earlier that day and that roofers had been using blowtorches to melt down material, according to reporting from KTLA.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026

Renaldo said workers were using blowtorches on the building’s exterior before the fire and that heat may have transferred through brick or mortar to the interior and ignited paper or other combustibles.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2023

A similar technique called flame-weeding, which involves outfitting tractors with blowtorches, is still a little too volatile for widespread adoption in the United States.

From New York Times ● Aug. 18, 2021

He climbed a set of concrete steps to a higher floor where people worked on rebar with blowtorches.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste