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definitions

torch

1
[tawrch]
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noun

verb (used without object)

to burn or flare up like a torch.

verb (used with object)

to subject to the flame or light of a torch, as in order to burn, sear, solder, or illuminate.
Slang. to set fire to maliciously, especially in order to collect insurance.

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RELATED WORDS

lamp, beacon, lantern, incendiary, light, flash, flare, flambeau

Idioms

    carry the/a torch for, Slang. to be in love with, especially to suffer from unrequited love for: He still carries a torch for his ex-wife.

Origin of torch

1
1250–1300; Middle English torche (noun) < Old French < Vulgar Latin *torca something twisted. See torque
Related formstorch·a·ble, adjectivetorch·less, adjectivetorch·like, adjective

torch

2
[tawrch]

verb (used with object)

to point (the joints between roofing slates) with a mixture of lime and hair.

Origin of torch

2
1840–50; < French torcher to plaster with a mixture of clay and chopped straw, derivative of torche a twist of straw. See torch1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

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Contemporary Examples of torch

Historical Examples of torch

British Dictionary definitions for torch

torch

noun

a small portable electric lamp powered by one or more dry batteriesUS and Canadian word: flashlight
a wooden or tow shaft dipped in wax or tallow and set alight
anything regarded as a source of enlightenment, guidance, etcthe torch of evangelism
any apparatus that burns with a hot flame for welding, brazing, or soldering
carry a torch for to be in love with, esp unrequitedly
put to the torch to set fire to; burn downthe looted monastery was put to the torch

verb

(tr) slang to set fire to, esp deliberately as an act of arson
Derived Formstorchlike, adjective

Word Origin for torch

C13: from Old French torche handful of twisted straw, from Vulgar Latin torca (unattested), from Latin torquēre to twist
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for torch
n.

late 13c., from Old French torche, originally "twisted thing," hence "torch formed of twisted tow dipped in wax," probably from Vulgar Latin *torca, alteration of Late Latin torqua, variant of classical Latin torques "collar of twisted metal," from torquere "to twist" (see thwart). In Britain, also applied to the battery-driven version (in U.S., flashlight). Torch song is 1927 ("My Melancholy Baby," performed by Tommy Lyman, is said to have been the first so called), from carry a torch "suffer an unrequited love" (also 1927), an obscure notion from Broadway slang.

v.

"set fire to," 1931, from torch (n.). Related: Torched; torching.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with torch

torch

see carry a torch; pass the torch.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.