carry a torch for

Cultural  

1. To be infatuated with: “Frank may be engaged to Helen, but I think he still carries a torch for Laura.”

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carry a torch for Idioms  

1. Also, carry the torch for. Continue to feel the pain of unreciprocated love for, as in Jane has been carrying the torch for Bill for at least a year. The torch in this term alludes to the heat of love or passion. [1920s]

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Example Sentences

I still carry a torch for Ethan Craft, so I haven’t quite ruled out Lizzie McGuire 2.0.

From The Guardian • Dec. 23, 2019

But five years after the last Zune rolled off the assembly line, some fans still carry a torch for the device.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 12, 2016

While the much vaunted Big Society, David Cameron's pet project under the coalition government, was quietly sidelined, the current government has continued to carry a torch for volunteering.

From BBC • Dec. 14, 2015

Some researchers still carry a torch for the incandescents of old, pioneered more than a century ago by Thomas Edison but now phasing out in the U.S. and elsewhere.

From National Geographic

We agreed, however, that the next time we went bee-hunting we would each of us carry a torch for our defence.

From In the Eastern Seas by Kingston, William Henry Giles