Torch

A torch is a fire source, usually a rod-shaped piece of wood with a soaked in pitch and/or some other flammable material wrapped around one end. Torches were often supported in sconces by brackets high up on walls, to throw light over corridors in stone structures such as castles or crypts. This traditional use of the word lives on in the Olympic Torch, procession torches and the like.

Famous quotes containing the word torch:

“Since the torch is out,
Lie down and stray no further.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“They shall beget and rear children, handing on the torch of life from one generation to another.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)

“Time grows dim. Time that was so long
grows short, time, all goggle-eyed,
wiggling her skirts, singing her torch song,
giving the boys a buzz and a ride,
that Nazi Mama with her beer and sauerkraut.
Time, old gal of mine, will soon dim out.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)