torch

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English torche, borrowed from Old French torche,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which in Old French and Anglo-Norman meant both a torch of twisted tow dipped in pitch or wax and a twisted bundle of hay or straw.^[6][7][8] It probably comes from Vulgar Latin *torca, an alteration of torqua, a variant of torquēs (“a twisted metal collar”),^{[3][4][5][9][10]} from torqueō (“to twist”).^[2][3][11] The first meaning was thus "something twisted", torches being made of twisted tow or hemp soaked in pitch or wax.^{[2][4][12][13]} Related forms are torcia, antorcha and tocha.^[2][14] The same Latin verb gave torque, torture, torment, contort, distort, extort and retort.^[13][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light carried in the hand, made of resinous wood or of twisted fibre soaked in tallow or resin: about 1290, in the South English Legendary;^[2][15] Barnhart dates the form torche to about 1250 and Etymonline to the mid-13th century.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The torch as a source of light became a figure for anything that enlightens or guides, from the 1620s, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy;^[5][2] the image of passing on the torch recalls the torch races of ancient Greece, in which runners handed a burning torch on.^[5][13][14] A torchlight is recorded about 1425 and a torch-bearer from 1538, as the leader of a cause from 1847.^[16] In Britain the word was transferred to a battery-powered electric lamp, recorded from 1901,^[16][15] which Americans call a flashlight, while in American English torch still means the flaming kind.^[13][12][17] A torch was also a blowtorch from 1909,^[2][8] and in US slang an arsonist from 1938,^[2][5] a large cigar from 1878.^[18] The verb meant to light with torches from 1819, in Keats's Isabella,^[16][5] and to set on fire from 1931, first in US slang.^[2][18][10] A torch song, a sad song of unrequited love, is attested by 1927, from carry a torch for, to love someone who does not return it.^[5][13]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – a light carried in the hand.^[2][4]
• c. 1425 – torchlight.^[16]
• 1552 – torches, the great mullein.^[2]
• 1620s – figuratively, a source of guidance.^[5][2]
• 1819 – verb: to light with torches.^[16][5]
• 1901 – an electric torch (British).^[16][15]
• 1909 – a blowtorch.^[2]
• 1927 – torch song.^[5]
• 1931 – verb: to set on fire (US slang).^[2][18]
• 1938 – an arsonist (US slang).^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (British) A small portable electric lamp powered by batteries; a flashlight.
2. A stick of wood or twisted fibre dipped in a flammable substance and lit, carried to give light.
3. A device that burns gas to give a very hot flame, used in welding and soldering; a blowtorch.
4. Something that gives enlightenment or guidance: They hoped to keep the torch of learning alight.
5. carry a torch for: to love someone who does not love one in return.

Verb

1. (informal) To set fire to, especially deliberately: The gang torched the warehouse.

Word family

• torchable
• torchless
• torchlike
• torchbearer
• torchlight
• torchwood
• torchy
• torch lily

Related words

• torque
• torc
• torture
• torment
• distort
• extort
• retort

Usage notes

A separate plastering verb torch, to point the joints of slates with lime-and-hair mortar, comes from torcher (“to daub, to plaster with clay and straw”), a derivative of the same French noun.^[2][8][19]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
16. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
17. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House