carry a torch for

To be infatuated with: “Frank may be engaged to Helen, but I think he still carries a torch for Laura.”

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, carry the torch for. Continue to feel the pain of unreciprocated love for, as in Jane has been carrying the torch for Bill for at least a year. The torch in this term alludes to the heat of love or passion. [1920s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

I still carry a torch for Ethan Craft, so I haven’t quite ruled out Lizzie McGuire 2.0.

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But five years after the last Zune rolled off the assembly line, some fans still carry a torch for the device.

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Mexico, for instance, continues to carry a torch for globalisation.

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Some researchers still carry a torch for the incandescents of old, pioneered more than a century ago by Thomas Edison but now phasing out in the U.S. and elsewhere.

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While the much vaunted Big Society, David Cameron's pet project under the coalition government, was quietly sidelined, the current government has continued to carry a torch for volunteering.

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carryall carry a tune

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