n.
- Brit. a portable battery-powered electric lamp.
- chiefly historical a portable means of illumination such as a piece of wood soaked in tallow and ignited.
- a valuable quality, principle, or cause, which needs to be protected and maintained:
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the torch of freedom.
- chiefly N. Amer. a blowlamp.
v.
informal set fire to.
Phrase
- carry a torch for
suffer from unrequited love for. - put to the torch
(or put a torch to)
destroy by burning.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. torche, from L. torqua, var. of torques ‘necklace, wreath’, from torquere ‘to twist’.
