torchy

[ tawr-chee ]

adjective

, torch·i·er, torch·i·est.

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a torch song or a torch singer.

Word History and Origins

Origin of torchy¹

1620–30, in sense “full of torches”; 1940–45 for this sense; torch ¹ + -y ¹

Example Sentences

But the new version — trading vocals with the dynamic, torchy Chilean belter Mon Laferte — uncovers the retro bolero underlying the song.

From New York Times

That honor goes to Jackie Ormes, the creator of the “Torchy Brown” comics and “Patty-Jo ’n’ Ginger.”

From New York Times

And she bemoans being separated — even by her own choices — in the torchy “Around the Tree” and in the tinkling march “No Holiday.”

From New York Times

As a singer, Lynn applied what she learned from the twang and vibrato of Kitty Wells and the torchy intensity of Patsy Cline to her own voice: reedy and tart with steely underpinnings, ready to summon tearfulness or indignation, slyly eluding the beat to hesitate at one moment and blurt something the next.

From New York Times

Equally potent are Fanny’s torchy “The Music That Makes Me Dance,” and a finale in which Fanny pulls herself out of an emotional cellar, proof of the preternatural resilience that defines a mortal who thrives in the limelight.

From Washington Post