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. US and Canadian
a firework containing gravel and a percussion cap that explodes when dashed against a hard surface
4. US and Canadian
a detonator placed on a railway line as a danger signal
5.
any of various electric rays of the genus Torpedo
verbWord forms: -does, -doing or -doed(transitive)
6.
to hit (a ship, etc) with one or a number of torpedoes
7.
to render ineffective; destroy or wreck
to torpedo the administration's plan
Derived forms
torpedo-like (torˈpedo-ˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
C16: from Latin: crampfish (whose electric discharges can cause numbness), from torpēre to be inactive; see torpid
tin fish in American English
noun
slang
a torpedo
Word origin
[1915–20]This word is first recorded in the period 1915–20. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: camouflage, collage, decoder, stockpile, supernationalism