Dictionary

torcher en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtɔɹt͡ʃɚ/ (General-American)
• (US) audio
• /ˈtɔːt͡ʃə(ɹ)/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From torch + -er.

Meanings

1. One who torches something.
   • The torchers of buildings must be dealt with.
2. (obsolete) One who gives light with a torch, or as if with a torch.
   • Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring, […] c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 162:
3. A torch song
   • […] their set includes a Patsy Cline torcher and reaches some sort of peak with a 29-song Irving Berlin medley. 1988 August 26, Neil Tesser, “Montgomery, Plant & Stritch”, in Chicago Reader:
4. A singer of a torch song
   • What did the girl do before she married Eddie Mars? Torcher. Can’t you get any old professional photos? 1939, Raymond Chandler, chapter 20, in The Big Sleep, New York: Knopf:
5. The pilot of a spacecraft propelled by a torch drive (a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion).

Forms