King James Bible Dictionary

TORCH, noun [Latin torqueo, tortus.] A light or luminary formed of some combustible substance, as of resinous wood or of candles.

They light the nuptial torch

TORCH'-BEARER, noun [torch and bear.]

One whose office is to carry a torch.

TORCH'ER, noun One that gives light. [Not used.]

TORCH'-LIGHT, noun [torch and light.] The light of a torch or of torches.

1. A light kindled to supply the want of the sun.

On the night of his betrayal, when our Lord was in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas, "having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons" (John 18:1-3). Although it was the time of full moon, yet in the valley of the Kidron "there fell great, deep shadows from the declivity of the mountain and projecting rocks; there were there caverns and grottos, into which a fugitive might retreat; finally, there were probably a garden-house and tower, into whose gloom it might be necessary for a searcher to throw light around." Lange's Commentary. (Nahum 2:3, "torches," Revised Version, "steel," probably should be "scythes" for war-chariots.)

TORCH'-THISTLE, noun A plant of the genus Cactus.common name of a subdivision of the genus Cactus, called also cereus, from cera, wax, from the resemblance of the stems to a wax candle. torch-thistle is from the prickly stems, used by the Indians for torches.

TORCH'-WORT, noun A plant.