torch
/ˈtoɹt͡ʃ/ noun B2- 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.
- 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 source of enlightenment or guidance.
- 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.
- An arsonist.
Plural torches
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
At last, about ten o’clock, and just as Dantès began to despair, steps were heard in the corridor, a key turned in the lock, the bolts creaked, the massy oaken door flew open, and a flood of light from two torches pervaded the apartment.
Seeing a stranger, escorted by two turnkeys holding torches and accompanied by two soldiers, and to whom the governor spoke bareheaded, Dantès, who guessed the truth, and that the moment to address himself to the superior authorities was come, sprang forward with clasped hands.
He did not move at the sound of the door, and continued his calculations until the flash of the torches lighted up with an unwonted glare the sombre walls of his cell; then, raising his head, he perceived with astonishment the number of persons present.
The real reason for this is that man-killing means, sooner or later, the arrival of white men on elephants, with guns, and hundreds of brown men with gongs and rockets and torches.
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