torpedo

Meaning

Noun

1. An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
2. A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
3. A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
4. (Northeastern, US) A submarine sandwich.
5. (archaic) A naval mine.
6. (obsolete) An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.
7. (slang) A professional gunman or assassin.
8. (US) A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
9. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
10. (historical) An 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.
11. A focal ovoid swelling on the axons of Purkinje cells, observed in several diseases such as essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia.
12. (US, plural-normally, slang) A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
13. (US, plural-normally, slang) A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.
14. (slang) A marijuana cigarette.
15. (slang) A marijuana cigarette.

Verb

1. (transitive) To strike (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
2. (transitive) To sink (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a powerful attack.

Synonyms

crampfish

electric ray

gun

🔫

shooter

hitman

hit man

gunman

gunslinger

numbfish

gun for hire

hired gun

triggerman

wedge

Cuban sandwich

hoagy

poor boy

submarine sandwich

zep

hero

🦸‍♂️

hero sandwich

hoagie

Italian sandwich

bomber

grinder

sub

submarine

torpedo ray

bullet

ogive

projectile

quash

sabotage

tin fish

undermine

fish

🐟

fish torpedo

abort

Translations

torpille

torpedo

torpedine

torpede

torpiller

siluro

Torpedo

silurare

torpedo

torpedo

torpederen

torpedear

torpedieren

torpedear

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/

Etymology

Cognate with Old English: steorfan

Cognate with Ancient Greek: στερεός

Cognate with Lithuanian: tirpstu

Cognate with Church Slavic: трупети

In summary

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“to be stiff, numb, torpid; to be astounded; to be inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti).
* (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.