carry a torch
To be in love with someone, especially secretly or unrequitedly. I've carried a torch for her since high school, but I've never been able to tell her how I feel. Susan carried a torch for him for years after they broke up. Please tell me she's not still carrying a torch for that loser, Brian. She deserves so much better!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
carry a torch (for someone)
and carry the torch (for someone)Fig. to be in love with someone who is not in love with you; to brood over a hopeless love affair. John is carrying a torch for Jane. Is John still carrying a torch after all this time?
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
carry a torch
To have longstanding feelings of love that are not requited: still carrying the torch for a man she knew in her twenties.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
carry a torch
To love someone, often secretly, who doesn't reciprocate the feeling. The torch of the phrase could mean the flame of love or a handheld flame that lights the way to spy on the object of your affection, who is probably with his or her current flame.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price