Sekirov Dictionary

torch

UK /ˈtɔːtʃ/US /ˈtoɹtʃ/

noun 12
verb 8
forms 3
phrases 5

noun12

•
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.
A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.
•
(Commonwealth) a light that is carried in one hand and needs no wires, for seeing in the dark
- Ernst slipped and dropped his torch on the flagstones, shattering the bulb and plunging us into darkness.
(figurative) 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.
•
(figurative) A 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! — 1775
(US, Canada) 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”).
(US, slang) An arsonist.
A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.
[in the plural] The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).
A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.
Ellipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
(no longer used) A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.

verb8

•
(informal) 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).
- Some hoodlums had torched a derelict automobile, which emitted a ghastly pall of thick, black smoke that filled the street.
•
(figurative) To 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.
•
Of a fire: to burn.
- The flames torched up twenty feet in the air.
(dialect, figurative) To (appear to) flare up like a torch.
To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches.
(US) To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing.
To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
(no longer used, historical) To point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths) using lime hair mortar.

forms

torched · torching · torches

Phrases with torch

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