torch, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

torch n.

1. (US) a large cigar.

1878		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Apr. 6/3: Then he expectorated between his teeth, and pulled vigorously at a ‘torch’.
1904		C. Connors Bowery Life [ebook] Smoke a ham? Why, dat’s a torch. Don’t you know what a torch is? Well, up in de Tenderloin dey call it a cigar.
1908		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 83: When Willis and the ‘torch’ did arrive Broadway took him for a fire.

2. the penis.

1884

‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 64: I stood no more chance of getting my poor used up ‘torch’ out of her vagina than if it had been wedged into a vice.

3. (US und.) a light for a cigar or cigarette.

1899

St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 27 Mar. 4/5: Collars put a torch t’ his cigarette.

4. (orig. US, also torch artist, torchman) an arsonist.

1915		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 6 June 39/1: We’re goin’ to nail one little torchman, anyways.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 272: Professional arsonists, called torches, hire themselves out to people who wish to have their places burned.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 224/2: Torch. A professional arsonist who sets fires to defraud insurance companies.
1967		J. Breslin World of Jimmy Breslin (1968) 15: I had Marvin the Torch over one day. He is a man who burns down things for a living.
1970		R. Fabian Anatomy of Crime 194: Torch: Professional arsonist.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 10: He was the master of the Jewish Bonfire. In other words, he was an expert torch, who helped people to collect on their fire insurance.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 148: Teabull met up with the torch artist in the parking lot.

5. (orig. US) an act of arson.

1981		J. Elllroy Brown’s Requiem 72: ‘[H]e's been helping out a couple of old people whose kids got burned up in the torch’.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Torch. An arsonist or the act of arson.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 124: It don’t gotta be a big torch. Jus’ cause a lotta damage.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 255: Rapid Cab — muerto. The torch was impromptu. The torch was unsanctioned.

6. attrib. use of sense 4.

1929		Delaware Co. Dly Times (Chester, PA) 16 Apr. 2/7: [headline] Torch-killer’s Finger Prints / Same as H.C. Close’s / Forger, Embezzler.
1930		E.H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) 130: Henry Colin Campbell, who was executed for the ‘torch’ murder of his bigamous wife.

7. (orig. US) used fig. and attrib. in combs. (see below), referring to lost or unrequired love [the ‘light of love’ is still burning, even if it is unreciprocated].

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 150: Lytess plagues Monroe with calls and weepy letters [...] Some sort of torris torch burns.

8. (US tramp) a revolver, a pistol.

1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 190: Torch.– A revolver or pistol, a weapon which ‘smokes’ its victim.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 821: torch – A revolver or pistol.

9. a lover, esp. when pined for.

1926		Judge (NY) 91 July-Dec. 31: Torch - The object of one's affections.
1939		J. Archibald ‘Killer’s Heel’ Popular Detective June 🌐 Gabriel and his torch came out and tripped towards a kiosk.
1940		J. Archibald ‘No Place Like Homicide’ in Popular Detective Apr. 🌐 It [i.e. a letter] was from Gertie Mudgett, his torch [...] and Gertie had written that she [...] wondered what she had ever seen in him.

10. (US black) an oversized cigarette lighter.

1972

D. Claerbaut Black Jargon in White America 84: torch n. a large cigarette lighter.

11. (drugs) a marijuana cigarette.

2001

ONDCP Street Terms 21: Torch — Marijuana.

In compounds

torch cooking (n.)

(drugs) igniting a crack cocaine pipe using a propane or butane torch.

1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 138: torch cooking smoking cocaine base by using a propane or butane torch as a source of flame.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms [as cit. 1989].

torch job (n.) [job n.² (1a)]

(US) an act of arson.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 113: The vehicles were still popping, metal was flying all over — a real torch job.
2003		R. Filipello Angel of Death 59: He got those scars as a teenager doing his first torch job. That was how he got his reputation as an arsonist for hire and his nickname. Torch.

torch man (n.)

1. (US Und.) an expert in the use of an oxy-acetylene torch.

1922		Amer. Rev. of Reviews 66 654: While it is true that the acetylene torch will melt away any metal practicable for safes it is also a fact that the best and latest kinds of safe and vault doors are so heavy and so well constructed that the torch man cannot enter them.
1949		H. Wilson ‘I Was King of the Safecrackers’ in Hamilton Men of the Und. 140: There wasn’t a torch man in the mob.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 224/2: Torch-man. A safe-cracker who specializes in the use of oxy-acetylene equipment.
1954		J.F. Dineen Anatomy of a Crime 45: Specialists— [...] a safe cracker from Brooklyn, a torch man from Detroit .
1972		Amer. Jrnl Criminal Law 1 131: Tell him he’s the best torch man in the business and only his equal could have cracked that safe.
2011		R. Kiel Comfort 53: The 1,500-pound safe [...] was toppled and, using an acetylene torch, the leader bored a 3-inch hole in the manganese wall of the safe. The leader became known as ‘Torch Man’.

2. an arsonist.

2011

(ref. to 1984) S.L. Mallory Understanding Organized Crime 102: In 1984, Fainberg was living in ‘Little Odessa’ (Brighton Beach) and became known as a ‘torch’ man (arsonist).

torch song (n.) (also torch ballad)

a song that focuses on unrequited or lost love; thus torch singer, a singer of such songs.

1927		Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 132/3: ‘Sing a torch song’ is commonly used in Broadway late-places as a request for a ballad in commemoration of the lonesome state. Tommy Lyman is said to have created the slang and he announced one night: ‘My famous torch song: “Come To Me, My Melancholy Baby”.’ .
1931		D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 133: A torch song being a song which guys sing when they have the big burnt-up feeling inside themselves over a battle with their dolls.
1941		J.M. Cain Mildred Pierce (1985) 510: The torch singers with these big name bands, they’re in the money.
1952		(con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 156: I played blues and torch songs on the victrola.
1962		Casey ‘Kid’ Motsisi ‘Chance Encounters’ Casey and Co. (1978) 49: Torch singer Thoko (‘A foggy day in London Town’) Mgcina took me out for a solid and liquid lunch.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 94: Her and Malique ‘Pony’ Jones’ torch ballad, Lou Rawl’s ‘You’ll Never Find.’.
1980		(con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘The Party’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1980) in Huncke Reader (1998) 170: A Lena Horne rendition of some torch song.

In phrases

carry a torch (v.) (also …the torch, hold a torch, torch)

(orig. US) to mourn a dead love affair, to feel love without its being returned; thus torch-carrier, one who is suffering such pain.

1927		Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 8 Dec. 10/5: When a fellow ‘carries the torch’ it doesn’t imply he is ‘lit up’ or drunk, but girl-less.
1931		D. Runyon ‘The Lily of St. Pierre’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 133: I know guys who are carrying a torch.
1935		M. Fulcher ‘Believe Me’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 19 Jan. 11/4: Speaking about track men having crushes, who [...] is Ben Johnson torching for?
[1937		T.A. Staple ‘Double Feature’ in N.Y. Age 13 Feb. 7/2: A certain McDonough street lass is holding the usual flame for the local George Raft].
1938		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 2 Mar. [synd. col.] The Hoagy Carmichaels will be there Labor Day . . . He wrote the national anthem for torch carriers, ‘Stardust.’.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 131: I am more than surprised that he seems to be carrying the torch for such a looking pancake as this Barbecue.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 10: Chink Charlie Dawson, who was carrying a torch for Dulcy.
1968		(con. 1950s) J. Healy Death of an Irish Town 58: You know, kiddo, I really carried a torch for her but she didn’t know I existed.
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 193: Why didn’t you say you’re carrying the torch?
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 271: I learned that his ex-wife lives in Thunderbird, and that the torch he carries for her is big enough for the Olympic games.
1993		M. Myers et al. Wayne’s World II [film script] Wayne still carries a torch for Cassandra.
2000		W.T. Vollmann Royal Family 264: And you’re still holding a torch for Whatchamahoosis.
2000		P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] Sim’s still carrying a torch for you.
2017		T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘[H]e still holds a torch’.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] She had slept with him [but] [i]t hardly meant she was carrying a torch for him.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 91: ‘You even mentioned that one bloke who carried a torch for her?’.