Wiktionary:Word of the day/2024/August 27

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torch n

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. (by extension) A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end. (by extension, Commonwealth) In full electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”) (by extension, botany) A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame. A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets. (chiefly in the plural) The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus). (obsolete) A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle. (figurative) A source of enlightenment or guidance. In carry, hand on, or pass on the torch: a precious cause, principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others. (science fiction) Short for torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”). (chiefly Canada, US) Short for blowtorch (“a tool which projects a controlled stream of a highly flammable gas over a spark in order to produce a controlled flame”). (US, slang) An arsonist. torch v (transitive) To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun sense 1). (originally and chiefly US, slang) To set fire to (something), especially by use of a torch; specifically, to intentionally destroy (something) by setting on fire to try and claim compensation on a fire insurance. (figurative) To make damaging claims about (someone or something); to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to insult. (intransitive) Of a fire: to burn. (science fiction) To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”). (UK, dialectal, figurative) To (appear to) flare up like a torch. (US, fishing) To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight; to go torch-fishing. [...] The torch relay of the 2024 Summer Paralympics culminates in the lighting of the cauldron tomorrow during the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris, France.

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