torpedo

[tawr-pee-doh]

noun

plural

torpedoes 

1. a self-propelled, cigar-shaped missile containing explosives and often equipped with a homing device, launched from a submarine or other warship, for destroying surface vessels or other submarines.

2. any of various submarine explosive devices for destroying hostile ships, as a mine.

3. a cartridge of gunpowder, dynamite, or the like, exploded in an oil well to facilitate the extraction of oil from the well.

4. a detonating device fastened to the top of a rail so as to be exploded by the pressure of a locomotive or car, thus giving an audible signal to members of a train crew.

5. any of various other explosive devices, as a firework that consists of an explosive wrapped up with gravel in a piece of tissue paper and that detonates when thrown forcibly on the ground or against a hard surface.

6. Also called torpedo fish. an electric ray, especially Torpedo nobiliana, of the Atlantic Ocean.

7. an electric catfish, Malapterurus electricus, inhabiting waters of tropical central Africa and the Nile valley.

8. Informal.,  a hero sandwich.

9. Slang.,  a gangster hired as a murderer.

verb (used with object)

torpedoed, torpedoing 

1. to attack, hit, damage, or destroy with torpedoes.

2. to explode a torpedo in (an oil well) to facilitate the extraction of oil.

3. to undermine, ruin, or destroy.

   He torpedoed our plans.

verb (used without object)

torpedoed, torpedoing 

1. to attack, damage, or sink a ship with torpedoes.

torpedo

/ tɔːˈpiːdəʊ /

noun

1. a cylindrical self-propelled weapon carrying explosives that is launched from aircraft, ships, or submarines and follows an underwater path to hit its target

2. obsolete,  a submarine mine

3. a firework containing gravel and a percussion cap that explodes when dashed against a hard surface

4. a detonator placed on a railway line as a danger signal

5. any of various electric rays of the genus Torpedo

verb

1. to hit (a ship, etc) with one or a number of torpedoes

2. to render ineffective; destroy or wreck

   to torpedo the administration's plan

Other Word Forms

• torpedolike adjective
• untorpedoed adjective
• torpedo-like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of torpedo¹

1510–20; < Latin torpēdō numbness, torpidity, electric ray, equivalent to torpē ( re ) to be stiff ( torpid ¹ ) + -dō noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of torpedo¹

C16: from Latin: crampfish (whose electric discharges can cause numbness), from torpēre to be inactive; see _torpid

Example Sentences

E1 would cut any Palestinian link to East Jerusalem — where Palestinians hope to make their capital — and torpedo any chance of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

There's no sign of the torpedoes the aircraft can carry to destroy submarines.

Read more on BBC

Did Britain’s Labour government torpedo a spying case to appease Beijing?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Fears the review may torpedo the deal have been downplayed by the UK and Australia, with both saying the review is a normal process when a new government takes power.

Read more on BBC

Anxiety filled the city’s atmosphere, especially early in the war, when Allied freighters were being torpedoed off the coast, tragically framed against the city’s nighttime glow.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• batter 
• decimate 
• demolish 
• destroy 
• devastate 
• impair 
• injure 
• mangle 
• mar 
• ravage 
• raze 
• ruin 
• sabotage 
• shatter 
• sink 
• smash 
• spoil 
• trash 
• undermine 
• vandalize