| / English Dictionary |
TORCH
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A burner that mixes air and gas to produce a very hot flame
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("torch" is a kind of...):
burner (an apparatus for burning fuel (or refuse))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "torch"):
oxyacetylene torch (a blowtorch that burns oxyacetylene)
Derivation:
torch (burn maliciously, as by arson)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A small portable battery-powered electric lamp
Synonyms:
flashlight; torch
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("torch" is a kind of...):
electric lamp (a lamp powered by electricity)
Meronyms (parts of "torch"):
flashlight battery (a small dry battery containing dry cells; used to power flashlights)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "torch"):
penlight (a small flashlight resembling a fountain pen)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A light usually carried in the hand; consists of some flammable substance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("torch" is a kind of...):
light; light source (any device serving as a source of illumination)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "torch"):
flambeau (a flaming torch (such as are used in processions at night))
Derivation:
torch (burn maliciously, as by arson)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in tallow for funeral torches
Synonyms:
Aaron's rod; common mullein; flannel mullein; great mullein; torch; Verbascum thapsus; woolly mullein
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("torch" is a kind of...):
flannel leaf; mullein; velvet plant (any of various plants of the genus Verbascum having large usually woolly leaves and terminal spikes of yellow or white or purplish flowers)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Burn maliciously, as by arson
Example:
The madman torched the barns
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "torch" is one way to...):
burn; burn down; fire (destroy by fire)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Derivation:
torch (a burner that mixes air and gas to produce a very hot flame)
torch (a light usually carried in the hand; consists of some flammable substance)
Context examples:
I hurried back along the way we had come, my torch in my hand.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Hurling their burdens in one vast heap within the portal, they threw burning torches upon the top of it.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
We returned again, with torches; for I could not rest, when I thought that my sweet boy had lost himself, and was exposed to all the damps and dews of night; Elizabeth also suffered extreme anguish.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Then the wedding was held with great pomp, but as the train came from the church, and passed with the torches before the hall, a very small ray of light fell upon the prince.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
“Bring a torch, Dick,” said Silver when my capture was thus assured.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Lord John had an electric torch in his knapsack, and this had to serve us as light.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Passing under a low door, and down a stone-flagged passage, they found themselves in a long narrow hall lit up by a pair of blazing torches, one at either end.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The embers of the great fire had so far burned themselves out and now glowed so low and duskily that I understood why these conspirators desired a torch.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I thought, too, of the glimpse I had in the light of Lord John's torch of that bloated, warty, blood-slavering muzzle.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This hall was as light as day, for torches burned in numerous sconces upon the walls, throwing strange shadows from the tusked or antlered heads which ornamented them.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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