ˈtorch-ˌlight
a. The light of a torch; illumination by a torch or torches.
| c 1425 Brut ccxliii. 367 He was brouȝt to London on an hors beere, with myche torche lyghte. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xvii. ii. 691 The mayde..armed hym by torche lyght. 1555 Coventry Leet Bk. 813 Euery of them to haue a man weytinge vppon hym with torche-light. 1619 Middleton Love & Antiq. Wks. (Bullen) VII. 329 His lordship returns by torchlight to his own house. 1726 Pope Odyss. xviii. 401 The shining baldness of his head survey, It aids our torch-light. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 629 He made a final inspection of his forces by torchlight. |
| fig. 1847 Whittier Lost Statesman 25 Yet firmer hands shall Freedom's torchlights trim. |
b. The time when torches are lighted; dusk.
| a 1656 Bp. Hall Hard Meas. Rem. Wks. (1660) 47 It now grew to be Torch-light. 1798 S. Lee Canterb. T., Yng. Lady's T. II. 323, I faintly recollect, that it was torch-light. |
c. attrib. Performed or carried on by torch-light.
| 1837 New Yorker 30 Sept. 441/3 A Loco-Foco ‘Torch-Light Meeting’, auxiliary to the larger concern in Tammany, was held in the Park on Thursday Evening. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. III. xix. 521 In the evening, a torch-light procession. 1884 West. Morn. News 15 Sept. 5/4 Lord Fife gave a torchlight ball at Mar Lodge. |