torch
/ˈtoɹt͡ʃ/ verb C2- To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun etymology 1, 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). · Some hoodlums had torched a derelict automobile, which emitted a ghastly pall of thick, black smoke that filled the street.
- 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.
- To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
- To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing.
He/she/it torches · Past torched · Past participle torched · -ing form torching
Verb forms
- Base form
- torch
- He/she/it
- torches
- Past
- torched
- Past participle
- torched
- -ing form
- torching
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
“I separated the fat from the meat served to me, melted it, and so made oil—here is my lamp.” So saying, the abbé exhibited a sort of torch very similar to those used in public illuminations.
The door opened, and a dim light reached Dantès’ eyes through the coarse sack that covered him; he saw two shadows approach his bed, a third remaining at the door with a torch in its hand.
Edmond stiffened himself in order to play the part of a dead man, and then the party, lighted by the man with the torch, who went first, ascended the stairs.
The man with the torch complied, although not asked in the most polite terms.
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