torpedo boat
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of torpedo boat
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
U-557 was rammed in error by the Italian torpedo boat Orione, west of Crete, and was sunk with all hands.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Navy planes to bomb North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases and called on Congress to authorize the use of force.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025
George Chandler, 99, served aboard a British motor torpedo boat as part of a flotilla that escorted the U.S.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Nearby they found another large metallic object, "most likely a German torpedo boat destroyer, S24", Lt Kemp added.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2023
It was a seventy-minute flight to the target, a small torpedo boat base in the port town of Hon Gai.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
![]()
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.