torpedoes

Noun

torpedo (plural torpedoes or torpedos)

1. An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
   • 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 Seas1594, 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...
2. A 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

   Synonyms:

   torp, fish

   1. A similar projectile that can travel through space.
3. (archaic) A naval mine.
4. (obsolete) An explosive device buried underground, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry.

   Synonyms:

   land torpedo, land mine

5. (Northeastern, US) Synonym of submarine sandwich.

   Synonyms:

   submarine sandwich

See all 18 meanings of torpedo