torch pine (torchpin)

See pinel. torch-race (tôrch'rās), n. In Gr. antiq., a race at certain festivals, in which the runners carried lighted torches, the prize being awarded to the contestant who first reached the goal with his torch still burning. In some forms of this race relays of runners were posted at intervals, and the burning torch was pa ed on from one to the next. Very frequently it was a ociated with the worship of Helios (Apollo) or Selene (Artemis), or of some fire-god, as Hephæstus (Vulcan) or Pro me the us. See lampadephoria. torch-staff (tôrch's taf), n. The staff of a torch, by which it is carried. Compare torch1, 2. The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, With torch - staves in their hand. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 2. 46. torch-thistle (tôrch'this"l), n. A columnar cactus of the genus Cereus , the stems of some species of which have been used by the Indians for torches. Sometimes the name is extended to the whole genus.