Adjacent Words

Torpedo definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TORPE'DO, n. [L. from torpeo, to be numb.] The cramp fish or electric ray, Raia torpedo. This fish is usually taken in forty fathoms water, on the coast of France and England, and in the Mediterranean. A touch of this fish occasions a numbness in the limb, accompanied with an indescribable and painful sensation, and is really an electric shock. When dead,the fish loses its power of producing this sensation.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a professional killer who uses a gun [syn: gunman, gunslinger, hired gun, gun, gun for hire, triggerman, hit man, hitman, torpedo, shooter]
2: a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States [syn: bomber, grinder, hero, hero sandwich, hoagie, hoagy, Cuban sandwich, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, submarine, submarine sandwich, torpedo, wedge, zep]
3: an explosive device that is set off in an oil well (or a gas well) to start or to increase the flow of oil (or gas)
4: a small firework that consists of a percussion cap and some gravel wrapped in paper; explodes when thrown forcefully against a hard surface
5: a small explosive device that is placed on a railroad track and fires when a train runs over it; the sound of the explosion warns the engineer of danger ahead
6: armament consisting of a long cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile that detonates on contact with a target
7: any sluggish bottom-dwelling ray of the order Torpediniformes having a rounded body and electric organs on each side of the head capable of emitting strong electric discharges [syn: electric ray, crampfish, numbfish, torpedo] v
1: attack or hit with torpedoes

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural -does) Etymology: Latin, literally, stiffness, numbness, from torp?re to be sluggish or numb — more at torpid Date: circa 1520 1. electric ray 2. a weapon for destroying ships by rupturing their hulls below the waterline: as a. a submarine mine b. a thin cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile 3. a small firework that explodes when thrown against a hard object 4. a professional gunman or assassin 5. submarine 2 II. transitive verb (torpedoed; torpedoing) Date: circa 1879 1. to hit or sink (a ship) with a naval torpedo ; strike or destroy by torpedo 2. to destroy or nullify altogether ; wreck <torpedo a plan>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. (pl. -oes) 1 a a cigar-shaped self-propelled underwater missile that explodes on impact with a ship. b (in full aerial torpedo) a similar device dropped from an aircraft. 2 Zool. an electric ray. 3 US an explosive device or firework. --v.tr. (-oes, -oed) 1 destroy or attack with a torpedo. 2 make (a policy, institution, plan, etc.) ineffective or inoperative; destroy. Phrases and idioms: torpedo-boat a small fast lightly armed warship for carrying or discharging torpedoes. torpedo-net (or -netting) netting of steel wire hung round a ship to intercept torpedoes. torpedo-tube a tube from which torpedoes are fired. Derivatives: torpedo-like adj. Etymology: L, = numbness, electric ray f. torpere be numb

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Torpedo Tor*pe"do, n. An automobile with a torpedo body. [Cant]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Torpedo Tor*pe"do, n.; pl. Torpedoes. [L. torpedo, -inis, from torpere to be stiff, numb, or torpid. See Torpid.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes belonging to Torpedo and allied genera. They are related to the rays, but have the power of giving electrical shocks. Called also crampfish, and numbfish. See Electrical fish, under Electrical. Note: The common European torpedo (T. vulgaris) and the American species (T. occidentalis) are the best known. 2. An engine or machine for destroying ships by blowing them up. Specifically: (a) A quantity of explosives anchored in a channel, beneath the water, or set adrift in a current, and so arranged that they will be exploded when touched by a vessel, or when an electric circuit is closed by an operator on shore. (b) A kind of small submarine boat carrying an explosive charge, and projected from a ship against another ship at a distance, or made self-propelling, and otherwise automatic in its action against a distant ship. 3. (Mil.) A kind of shell or cartridge buried in earth, to be exploded by electricity or by stepping on it. 4. (Railroad) A kind of detonating cartridge or shell placed on a rail, and exploded when crushed under the locomotive wheels, -- used as an alarm signal. 5. An explosive cartridge or shell lowered or dropped into a bored oil well, and there exploded, to clear the well of obstructions or to open communication with a source of supply of oil. 6. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object. Fish torpedo, a spindle-shaped, or fish-shaped, self-propelling submarine torpedo. Spar torpedo, a canister or other vessel containing an explosive charge, and attached to the end of a long spar which projects from a ship or boat and is thrust against an enemy's ship, exploding the torpedo. Torpedo boat, a vessel adapted for carrying, launching, operating, or otherwise making use of, torpedoes against an enemy's ship.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Torpedo Tor*pe"do, v. t. to destroy by, or subject to the action of, a torpedo. --London Spectator.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(torpedoes, torpedoing, torpedoed) 1. A torpedo is bomb that is shaped like a tube and that travels under water. N-COUNT 2. If a ship is torpedoed, it is hit, and usually sunk, by a torpedo or torpedoes. More than a thousand people died when the Lusitania was torpedoed. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 3. If someone torpedoes negotiations or plans, they deliberately prevent them from being completed or from being successful. (INFORMAL) These attacks are seen as an effort to torpedo the talks. = sabotage, wreck VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Cramp-fish, electric ray (Torpedo vulgaris). 2. Explosive engine for blowing up ships.

Moby Thesaurus

Cain, Irish confetti, KO, aerial torpedo, aim at, apache, assassin, assassinator, atomic warhead, bangalore torpedo, barrage, bird, blast, blitz, bloodletter, bloodshedder, bola, bolt, bombard, boomerang, bravo, brickbat, bruiser, burker, butcher, button man, cannibal, cannon, cannonade, charge, cock, commence firing, cook, countermissile, cutthroat, defeat, desperado, detonate, discharge, dish, do for, do in, drop, eject, enfilade, eradicator, executioner, exterminator, fell, fire, fire a volley, fire at, fire off, fire upon, fix, fusillade, garroter, goon, gorilla, guided missile, gun, gun for, gunman, gunsel, gunslinger, hatchet man, head-hunter, hellion, hit, hit man, holy terror, homicidal maniac, homicide, homing torpedo, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, killer, knock out, let fly, let off, load, man-eater, man-killer, manslayer, massacrer, matador, missile, mortar, mug, mugger, murderer, muscle man, nuclear warhead, open fire, open up on, payload, pelt, pepper, pesticide, pick off, pistol, plug, plug-ugly, poison, poisoner, pop at, pot, potshoot, potshot, prime, projectile, rake, riddle, rock, rocket, rocket torpedo, rodman, roughneck, scuttle, settle, shell, shoot, shoot at, shoot down, sink, slaughterer, slayer, snipe, snipe at, spar torpedo, stone, strafe, strangler, strike, strong-arm man, submarine torpedo, take a potshot, take aim at, terror, thermonuclear warhead, throw stick, throwing-stick, thug, tough, trigger man, ugly customer, undo, waddy, war rocket, warhead, zero in on