torch

Meanings

Plural: torches

Noun

a light usually carried in the hand; consists of some flammable substance
tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in tallow for funeral torches
a small portable battery-powered electric lamp
a burner that mixes air and gas to produce a very hot flame
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.
A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.
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.
Ellipsis of electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”).
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.
A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.
A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.
The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).
A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.
A source of enlightenment or guidance.
In carry, hand on,take up pass on the torch: a precious cause, principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others.
Ellipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
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”).
An arsonist.

Verb

burn maliciously, as by arson
- "The madman torched the barns"
To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun sense 1).
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).
To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult.
Of a fire: to burn.
To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
To (appear to) flare up like a torch.
To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing.
To point (“fill up and bring to a smooth finish”) (inside joints of slates laid on laths) using lime hair mortar.

Origin / Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English torch, torche (“large candle; lighted stick; (figurative) sunbeam”), from Old French torche, torque (“torch; bundle of (twisted) straw”) (modern French torche); further etymology uncertain, probably from Vulgar Latin *torca (“coiled object”) (referring to a torch made from twisted plant fibres dipped in a flammable substance such as pitch), from Latin torqua, a variant of torquis (“collar of twisted metal, torque; wreath”), from torqueō (“to twist, wind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to spin; to turn”).
Sense 2.3 (Verbascum thapsus) is either due to the plant’s spike of yellow flowers, or because its leaves and stalks were used to make torches (noun sense 1). Sense 3.2 (“precious cause, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others”) is derived from Latin lampada trādere, from Ancient Greek λᾰμπᾰ́δᾰ πᾰρᾰδιδόναι (lămpắdă părădidónai, “to hand over the torch”), a reference to the torch race held at various festivals such as the Panathenaic Games in Ancient Greece, which involved a relay where a torch was passed from one runner to another.
The verb is derived from the noun.

Synonyms

Aaron's rod, alight, asperse, assassinate, backbite, badmouth, belibel, belittle, besmirch, blaze, blaze up, blemish, blot, blowlamp, blowtorch, brand, burn, calumniate, calumny, cloud, combust, common mullein, conflagrate, cut down, defame, demonize, denigrate, derogate, detract, discredit, disgrace, disparage, diss, fire, fire up, firebrand, flambeau, flannel mullein, flare up, flashlight, forburn, forgab, go up, great mullein, ignite, infamize, inflame, kindle, lampoon, libel, light, light up, malign, monster, outburn, reproach, revile, scandal, set ablaze, set afire, set aflame, set alight, set fire, set on fire, shit-talk, slag, slander, spatter, speak ill of, stab, talk shit, talk shite, talk trash, torch, torchlight, traduce, trash-talk, Verbascum thapsus, vilify, vilipend, vituperate, woolly mullein

Scrabble Score: 10

torch is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
torch is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
torch is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

torch is a valid Words With Friends word