American
[bang-guh-lawr tawr-pee-doh]
/ ˈbæŋ gəˌlɔr tɔrˈpi doʊ /
noun
-
a metal tube filled with explosives and equipped with a firing mechanism, especially for destroying barbed-wire entanglements, mine fields, etc.
bangalore torpedo
British
noun
-
an explosive device in a long metal tube, used to blow gaps in barbed-wire barriers
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged"
2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986
© HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Etymology
First recorded in 1910–15
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any
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Red engineers blew a hole in the barbed wire with a bangalore torpedo.
From
Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
