torrent

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɒɹ.ənt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔɹ.ənt/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹ.ənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

From French torrent, from Italian torrente, from Latin torrentem, accusative of torrēns (“burning, seething, roaring”), from Latin torrēre (“to parch, scorch”).

Noun

torrent (plural torrents)

1. A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
   • (Can we date this quote by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The roaring torrent is deep and wide.

   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

     Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. […] Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

   Rain fell on the hills in torrents.

   A torrent of green and white water broke over the hull of the sail-boat.

2. (figurative) A large amount or stream of something.
   • 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian:

     A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.

   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, / The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor ...

   They endured a torrent of inquiries.

Derived terms

• torrential
• torrentiality
• torrentially

Related terms

• torrid
• toast

Translations

violent flow, as of water etc.

• Aromanian: flumin (roa-rup)
• Assamese: হাৱৰ (hawor)
• Catalan: torrent (ca) m, riera (ca) f
• Dutch: stortvloed (nl) m, stroom (nl) m
• Esperanto: torento
• Finnish: hyöky, vyöry (fi)
• French: torrent (fr) m
• Galician: dioivo (gl) m, doira f, bullón m, enxurrada (gl) f, quenlle m, frieira f
• Georgian: ნიაღვარი (niaɣvari), ღვარი (ɣvari), ნაკადი (naḳadi), ლანქერი (lankeri)
• German: Strom (de) m, Schwall (de) m, Sturzflut f
• Greek:

  Ancient: χειμάρρους m (kheimárrhous)

• Hungarian: özön (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: cegar
• Maltese: wied m
• Maori: ia, hīrere
• Persian: سیلاب (fa) (seylâb)
• Polish: potok (pl) m
• Portuguese: torrente (pt) f
• Romanian: torent (ro) n, puhoi (ro)
• Russian: пото́к (ru) m (potók)
• Scottish Gaelic: tuil f, taom m, gàth f
• Slovene: hudournik (sl) m
• Spanish: torrente (es) m
• Swedish: skur (sv) c, ström (sv) c, fors (sv) c

Adjective

torrent (comparative more torrent, superlative most torrent)

1. Rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.
   • (Can we date this quote by Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Waves of torrent fire.

See also

• barrage
• inundate
• deluge
• torrential

Etymology 2

From BitTorrent and the file extension it uses for metadata (.torrent).

Noun

torrent (plural torrents)

1. (Internet, file sharing) A set of files obtainable through a peer-to-peer network, especially BitTorrent.

   I got a torrent of the complete works of Shakespeare the other day; I'm not sure why.

Translations

file transfers

• Assamese: টৰেন (toren)
• Esperanto: torento
• Georgian: ტორენტი (ṭorenṭi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Marathi: टॉरेंट m (ṭǒrenṭa)
• Russian: то́ррент (ru) m (tórrent)

Verb

torrent (third-person singular simple present torrents, present participle torrenting, simple past and past participle torrented)

1. (Internet slang, transitive) To download in a torrent.

   The video rental place didn't have the film I was after, but I managed to torrent it.

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Catalan

Noun

torrent m (plural torrents)

1. current

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French

Etymology

From Italian torrente, from Latin torrens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔ.ʁɑ̃/

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

torrent m (plural torrents)

1. A torrent

Descendants

• → English: torrent
• → Romanian: torent

Further reading

• “torrent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) torrent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of torreō

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Welsh

Alternative forms

• torren (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɔrɛnt/

Verb

torrent

1. (literary) third-person plural imperfect/conditional of torri
2. (literary) third-person plural imperative of torri

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
torrent	dorrent	nhorrent	thorrent
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.