put to the torch

put (something) to the torch

To set fire to something with the intention of destroying it. The soldiers stormed through the village, putting homes to the torch as they went. Many holy scriptures of the religion were put to the torch during the war.
See also: put, torch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

put to the torch (or put a torch to)

destroy by burning.
See also: put, torch
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

put to the torch

To destroy by fire; burn down.
See also: put, torch
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • put (something) to the torch
  • put something to the torch
  • pass the torch to someone
  • in for the kill
  • hand on the torch
  • storm out of the blocks
  • storm out of the traps
  • have (someone or something) on (one's) side
  • have something on your side
  • toss hat into the ring
References in periodicals archive
Defense has been OSU's strong suit since it put to the torch 28 years of losing seasons in 1999.
ANDERSON'S TIME TO SHINE
Some councillors will lead hundreds of hatchet-faced puritans in prayer as crate-loads of rubber phalluses are put to the torch.
John McBlain's column: Taking a poke at sex industry; The Sunday Mirror columnist who tells us what's happening in Norn Iron
The guests examined the narcotics and tested the heroin with chemical-testing kits before the drugs were put to the torch.
Myanmar junta incinerates tons of narcotics in antidrug show
A replica of 17th-Century London is rising in the countryside - fated to be put to the torch in a re-creation of the Great Fire of London to celebrate the Millennium.
Post Script
This week, I saw another 17 villages being put to the torch and spoke to the terrified families being driven from place to place by this barbarity.
A mutilated body ...calling card of Kosovo killers; PADDY ASHDOWN, leader of the Lib Dems, writes for the Record after his fact-finding mission to war-torn Serbia
In another two years or so, the whole affair will be put to the torch, which would doom most any other infant pine woods.
Longleaf redux
That was Kristallnacht, the night when every synagogue in Germany and Austria was put to the torch, when Jewish shops were plundered, when Jews caught on the streets were hauled off to prisons from which many never returned, or were beaten to death on the spot.
Homecoming in Vienna