torch

A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground, and used chiefly as a light source.

A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.

Ellipsis of electric torch: synonym of flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”).

A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.

A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.

The common mullein, great mullein, or torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).

A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a torch cactus or torch-thistle.

A source of enlightenment or guidance.

In carry, hand on, pass on, take up the torch: a precious cause, principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted to others.

Ellipsis of torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).