Torch

How to spell torch

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce torch

What does torch mean?

1. nounA small portable electric lamp powered by batteries (American and Canadian: flashlight).
2. nounA burning stick or fuel-soaked brand carried to give light or to set fire to something.
3. verbTo set fire to something deliberately.

Torch in a sentence

• noun

  She kept a torch in the kitchen drawer for power cuts.

• noun

  The runner carried the Olympic torch through the stadium.

• verb

  Arsonists tried to torch the abandoned warehouse overnight.

• noun

  The camper shone a torch along the dark forest path.

• noun

  Villagers lit a torch to guide travellers along the cliff at night.

• verb

  A stray spark can torch a whole field of dry stubble.

Where does torch come from?

Language of origin: French

Torch came into English in the 1200s from the Old French torche, which named a twist of straw, tow, or hemp dipped in wax or resin and set alight to give light. The French word is usually traced back to a Vulgar Latin form torca, an alteration of Latin torqua or torques, meaning 'a twisted collar or wreath', from the verb torquere 'to twist'. The link is the physical making of an early torch: fibres were twisted together to form a burning brand, so the name literally described the twisting rather than the flame. The same torquere root gives English a surprising family of relatives, including 'torture', 'torment', and 'torque', all carrying the idea of twisting or wrenching. In British English the word later shifted to mean a portable electric light, what Americans call a flashlight, while the older 'flaming brand' sense survives everywhere.

How the word is built

• torch (single root, from Old French torche: a twist of straw or tow)