The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Torrent \Tor"rent\, n. [F., fr. L. torrens, -entis, fr. torrens
   burning, roaring, boiling, p. pr. of torrere to dry by heat,
   to burn. See Torrid.]
   1. A violent stream, as of water, lava, or the like; a stream
      suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
      [1913 Webster]

            The roaring torrent is deep and wide. --Longfellow.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Fig.: A violent or rapid flow; a strong current; a flood;
      as, a torrent of vices; a torrent of eloquence.
      [1913 Webster]

            At length, Erasmus, that great injured name, . . .
            Stemmed the wild torrent of a barbarous age. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Torrent \Tor"rent\, a. [See Torrent, n.]
   Rolling or rushing in a rapid stream. "Waves of torrent
   fire." --Milton.
   [1913 Webster] Torrential

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

torrent
    n 1: a heavy rain [syn: downpour, cloudburst, deluge,
         waterspout, torrent, pelter, soaker]
    2: a violently fast stream of water (or other liquid); "the
       houses were swept away in the torrent" [syn: torrent,
       violent stream]
    3: an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a
       torrent of abuse" [syn: flood, inundation, deluge,
       torrent]

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):

BitTorrent
seed
torrent

    A popular, distributed form of peer-to-peer
   file sharing that enables a client program to fetch
   different parts of a file (a "torrent") from different sources
   in parallel.  The system is designed to encourage users to
   make downloaded data available for others to upload.  This is
   aided by a scheme for exchanging unique identifiers, commonly
   stored in ".torrent" files.  A downloader who does not serve
   data to others is called a "leech".  A "seed" is a computer
   that has a complete copy of a file, possibly the original.

   The bittorrent.com site claims there are over 100 million
   users as of 2007-03-24.

   Most of the data is copyright material like films or
   commercial software.

   (http://www.bittorrent.com/what-is-bittorrent).

   (2007-03-27)