I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a car/torch/phone etc battery
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Have you checked your mobile phone battery?
torch song
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
flaming
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He grabbed a flaming torch and wielded it in front of him.
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Each carried a whip and flaming torch with which to chivy both mortal offenders and recalcitrant gods.
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Underneath was a moulded jetty, close-studding with a herringbone gable, carved flaming torches supporting an oriel window.
olympic
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She was held up as a living version of the Olympic torch , burning with the spirit of sportsmanship.
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I could swear the Olympic torch carrier who came running past my street the other day was a dwarf.
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The Olympic torch will be carried into the stadium.
powerful
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One of them was using a much more powerful torch than Canon Oglethorpe's, without any attempt to conceal its light.
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At intervals I wandered round the camp, flashing my powerful torch into the darkness.
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I retained my archers but took away their bows and arrows and gave them powerful , waterproof torches instead.
small
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I was allowed to carry a small torch then, and had another student with me.
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If some one shines a small torch at one end, the light may be clearly seen to emerge from the other.
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Analysis Here's a very simple example of the start of a media relations programme for a small company producing torches .
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The Doctor pulled a small torch from his pocket and clicked it on.
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The robot holds a small torch in its gripper.
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There is a hook dead centre for hanging a small torch .
■ NOUN
beam
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Down below, he could see the single torch beam which illuminated Devlin, the girl and Gilbert.
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They gazed into my torch beam like cons caught in razor wire.
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Caught in the torch beam were a pair of eyes, glittering ebony pupils widening in shock.
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Bernice ran forward into the darkness, her torch beam bobbing in front of her.
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He swept the torch beam round the short passage and saw the two cell doors on his left were ajar.
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Something scuttled out of the torch beam , hopping across the ceiling lathes into the shadows.
■ VERB
carry
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Britain could carry the torch of freedom, truth, toleration and peace.
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Aaron Hammon is a recovering speed freak; he has carried a torch for the drug methamphetamine since childhood.
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I was allowed to carry a small torch then, and had another student with me.
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I refuse to allow you to inspect my cellars simply because you have seen my young sister carrying a torch .
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If anyone is carrying the Adler torch of the confluence of jazz and ballad, it is Kidd.
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Was it possible poor old Harry was still carrying a torch for Pickles?
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One feels a certain sympathy for those selected to carry the torch in New Zealand.
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But all the time he himself was carrying his own torch for a lost love.
flash
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When she took off her glasses the sun caught her eyes and made them flash like green torches .
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Blagg had tried a brief smile when Maxim flashed the torch on himself for identification, but didn't speak.
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He flashed his torch up on to the walls and had another look at the barbed wire.
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Up in the bows, one of the bureaucrats flashed a torch twice, waited five seconds and repeated the signal.
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At intervals I wandered round the camp, flashing my powerful torch into the darkness.
hold
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No doubt somebody had held a torch for him.
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For nine days Demeter wanders, wild with grief, holding torches in both hands.
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He ran forward, holding his torch out straight in front of him, like the very last runner in some crazy relay race.
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The robot holds a small torch in its gripper.
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He began to unbutton his trousers, holding his torch between his upper arm and side.
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Henry kept tight hold of the leg, and he held on to his torch too.
light
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Guests arrived by horse-drawn carriages and the path to the Castle was lit by blazing torches .
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Narine Baney taps softly on a beaker with his knuckle, then lights his torch .
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They had lit a torch which was flaring and smoking in an iron bracket.
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Silver: Muhammad Ali lights the torch .
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Ipuky's confession had lit a bright torch in the dark labyrinth of his investigation.
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Some streets are dimly lit by smoking torches , but the houses have only the shadowy light of candles and oil-lamps.
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Under the bedclothes, Rory pressed a lit torch into the palm of his hand, into his bunched fingers.
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Some had lit the torches and roasted other men alive in the middle of the night.
put
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Five men came to my place and beat me up and put the torch to my place.
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He left behind a closetful of fine suits and white shirts, which Magnus also put to the torch .
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Then his men put a torch to the thatch roof of every cabin before they rode away.
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He put down the torch and used both hands to scoop up his last-minute discovery.
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It was so cold in that studio, no wonder that painter put a torch to the Champs Elysees.
shine
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There were three more rooms and Henry crept through them, shining his torch carefully round.
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Joe noticed his absence in the night, shining a torch to avoid stepping on him but finding no sign of Fred.
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First he swam out shining his torch for the paddler to see.
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If some one shines a small torch at one end, the light may be clearly seen to emerge from the other.
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I shine my pocket torch on to hundreds of crabs skittering into the sea.
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Moving gingerly, she went over to it and lifted one corner of the cloth, shining her torch on the canvas.
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On convertibles, shine a torch down into the well that the hood folds into and check for rust.
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Jack hastened to the front of the box shining his torch across the tracks.
switch
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He switched on his torch and found himself alone in the office.
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Then he switched on the torch and splashed through the puddle in the concrete to the shed.
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He opened the door, switching off the torch and closing the door behind him.
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Then he switched his own torch off.
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I mended the tent-pole bag and listened to another sermon before switching off my torch .
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He switched on his torch and stepped round the corner.
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In the end he switched the torch on.
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He switched on his torch - there was, of course, no electrical power left.
take
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He took a torch with him, left the car and entered the old building.
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Then it was that the West took up the torch .
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Endill took his torch and screwdriver with him in case there was anything to unscrew.
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Kissing became the gesture of romantic love, and future actors took up the torch .
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They took the torch with them.
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She took a torch from the shelf and we crept into the night, children on a midnight dare.
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As they waited, Maltravers silently took the torch from Sally Baker's hand, then they stiffened as the lychgate creaked.
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As some spiders only come out when it is dark, take a torch and go searching in the evening.
turn
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He turned on the torch and shone it round the shed.
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She turned on his heavy-duty torch .
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He turned on his own torch and started wondering how he was going to get out.
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So I turned on my electric torch and there was nobody there.
use
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You use a torch to see anything.
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Also we stopped using our little paraffin lamp during the night watch, and used torches instead.
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Go to the dark room. 24. Use the torch . 25.
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As a 10-year-old kid Pauline used a stolen acetylene torch to decapitate the globe of a gumball machine.
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At night we use big torches , and night vision equipment to get evidence.
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Look at the Morse code chart and, using a torch , try to spell out your name.
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Poke around any plumbing, lift any loose floorboards and inspect the joists, using your screwdriver and torch .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
carry a torch for sb
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Seth has been carrying a torch for Liz ever since high school.
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Aaron Hammon is a recovering speed freak; he has carried a torch for the drug methamphetamine since childhood.
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Was it possible poor old Harry was still carrying a torch for Pickles?
carry the torch of sth
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Ancient Greeks carried the torch of scientific study for many centuries.
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Britain could carry the torch of freedom, truth, toleration and peace.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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After a cursory check, Myeloski went off to talk to the guard at the gate and find a torch .
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Down below, he could see the single torch beam which illuminated Devlin, the girl and Gilbert.
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If he ever guessed that she carried this stupid, hopeless torch for him, he would ... what?
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Ipuky's confession had lit a bright torch in the dark labyrinth of his investigation.
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It was a photo of a robed woman with a sharp star for a halo and a torch in her upraised hand.
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Working on the torch principle the gun became a simple projector.
II. verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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It looked to me like someone had torched the place.
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Thibault was caught torching the restaurant.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Bunny threatened to chainsaw the flat in Muswell Hill and torch the goldfish, although maybe it was the other way round.
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He found himself before the emperor a second time, after torching a pagan idol; his punishment was a severe flogging.
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Torrents of lava would not tumble out to force fire down his throat, torch his tongue.
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We see him move slowly through the ranks, from fencing stolen goods to torching ailing business interests.