torpedo

plural torpedoes · plural torpedos

1. biologyAn electric ray of the genus Torpedo.

   The man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he is born, and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo's touch […].

   1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men

   2 more examples

   Faire Queene, forbeare to angle for the fiſh, / Which being caught, ſtrikes him that takes it dead, / I meane that vile Torpedo, Gaueſton, / That now I hope flotes on the Iriſh Seas

   1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I]

   "A childhood Misadventure with a Torpedo," Dixon, with a brief move of his head toward Mason, confides, "— thus his Sensitivity at all References to the,"— whispering,— "electrickal!"

   1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 286

2. governmentA cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon.

   I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano.

   1918, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Land that Time Forgot, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008

   2 more examples

   Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long.

   2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse..., archived from the original on 04 Dec 2022

   And if fate should turn her back on them, or turn away from them, leaving them to their own devices, and should they find themselves be sore afraid, then they would simply sail away to the other side of the world. They would ride like the wind. They would sail once more into the breach and damn the torpedos! God save the Queen! And the devil take the hindmost!

   2020, Ted Bell, Dragonfire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley, published 2021, →ISBN, page 536

   Synonyms: torp, fish

   1. governmentA similar projectile that can travel through space.

      Synonyms: torp, fish

3. archaicgovernmentA naval mine.First known use 1805
4. obsoletegovernmentAn explosive device buried underground, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry.

   Synonyms: land torpedo, land mine

5. NortheasternUSSynonym of submarine sandwich.

   Synonyms: submarine sandwich

6. slangA professional gunman or assassin.
7. USrail transportA small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.

   Synonyms: detonator

8. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
9. historicalAn automobile with a streamlined profile and a folding or detachable soft top, and having the hood or bonnet line raised to be level with the car's waistline, resulting in a straight beltline from front to back.
10. medicineA focal ovoid swelling on the axons of Purkinje cells, observed in several diseases such as essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia.

    In several human neurodegenerative diseases, focal axonal swellings on Purkinje cells – known as torpedoes – have been associated with Purkinje cell loss. Interestingly, torpedoes are also reported to appear transiently during development in rat cerebellum.

    2016 November 2, Lovisa Ljungberg, Daneck Lang-Ouellette, Angela Yang, Sriram Jayabal, Sabrina Quilez, Alanna J. Watt, “Transient Developmental Purkinje Cell Axonal Torpedoes in Healthy and Ataxic Mouse Cerebellum”, in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, volume 10, →DOI, article 248, page 1

11. USplural normallyslangA woman's shoe with a pointed toe.First known use 1910s
12. USplural normallyslangA large breast; a breast with a large nipple.First known use 1960s
13. A marijuana cigarette.
    1. slangA thick marijuana cigarette.First known use 1940s

       Synonyms: bifta, bifter, blunt, bogie, bomber, bone, bun, Camberwell carrot

    2. slangA cigarette containing marijuana and crack cocaine.First known use 1980s

       Synonyms: bifta, bifter, blunt, bogie, bomber, bone, bun, Camberwell carrot

present singular third person torpedoes · present singular third person torpedos · participle present torpedoing · participle past torpedoed · past torpedoed

1. transitiveTo strike (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
2. transitiveTo sink (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.

   The anti-German riots which erupted simultaneously in many countries in response to the torpedoing of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 reflected shifts in the status of minorities in multi-ethnic societies at a time of escalating nationalist emotions.

   2013 November 28, Tilman Dedering, “‘Avenge the Lusitania’: The Anti-German Riots in South Africa in 1915”, in Immigrants & Minorities, volume 31, number 3, →DOI, pages 256–288

3. figurativelytransitiveTo undermine or destroy any endeavor with a powerful attack.

   The decision (5-4) by the nine-member bench has torpedoed Srettha’s troubled government, which has failed to gain support in parliament and among the Thai public.

   2024 August 14, Aidan Jones, “Thai PM Srettha Thavisin dismissed from office by court”, in scmp.com

   3 more examples

   The left-back had been a selection concern because of an injury niggle but his first goal since last March swung this derby decisively in United’s favour, extending their club record unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League to 22 games and torpedoing City’s sequence of 21 straight wins in all competitions.

   2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian

   The Toronto-based company[…] promised a certain fantasy, particularly aimed at men: a list of women ready and willing to have an affair; a secret good time outside the bounds of one’s partnership; self-proclaimed extensive security measures to prevent torpedoing one’s domestic life.

   2024 May 14, Adrian Horton, “Inside the rise and fall of Ashley Madison: ‘People literally lost their lives’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   “It was really like a festering sore for quite some time,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, who said the disagreement over Khalistan “has really torpedoed the relationship.”

   2024 November 29, Lex Harvey, “Clashes erupted outside a Hindu temple near Toronto. They’re the latest sign of Canada and India’s spiraling relations”, in CNN