to carry a torch
4
7.7
- idiom
- /ˈkæri ə tɔrʧ/
- Informal
:
estar enamorado
- You're still carrying a torch for that Nash aren't you.
- still carry a torch
- carry a torch for a girl
Examples
-
After all these years, he still carries a torch for her despite their breakup.
-
He'd been carrying a torch for her.
-
Well, you might still be carrying a torch for him.
-
"You carried a torch for Victoria all that time?"
Fiction book (1990) -
That man was carrying a torch a mile high for some girl.
-
Rose had admitted as much, but it hadn't even occurred to him she might still be carrying a torch.
Fiction book (1998) -
You're not carrying a torch for him, are you, Eva?
-
I don't care how long you've been carrying a torch.
-
It's obvious from the way she greets Armando that they were once an item and that she still carries a torch.
-
You carry a torch for a girl you dated in high school—in high school for God's sake!
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
17
6.7
To feel very sad and want someone or something a lot
Antonyms
How Romantic
- Informal
17
3.4
- Informal
4
7.7
- Informal
106
3.3
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
carry + a + torch
The romantic meaning is not directly predictable from literal 'carry' (hold) + 'a torch' (a portable light), because the link to enduring or unrequited love is a conventionalized metaphor rather than a straightforward compositional meaning. There is a partial clue—torch can metaphorically suggest a long-burning passion—so learners might sense an emotional sense, but the specific romantic/unreciprocated nuance is not reliably inferable by a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
The idiom carry a torch comes from one popular story: imagine someone walking with a burning torch for the person they love, keeping the light even when that love is not returned. So it means 'to have strong feelings for someone that are not returned'.