torpedo en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
- /ˌtoɹˈpi.doʊ/ (US)
- /ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/ (UK)
Etymology
* 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.
Meanings
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An 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: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:
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A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon.
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: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: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:
- A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon. ▸ A similar projectile that can travel through space.
- (archaic) A naval mine.
- (obsolete) An explosive device buried underground, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry.
- (Northeastern, US) Synonym of submarine sandwich.
- (slang) A professional gunman or assassin.
- (US) A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
- A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
- (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.
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A 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:
- (US, plural-normally, slang) A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
- (US, plural-normally, slang) A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.
- (slang) A marijuana cigarette. ▸ A thick marijuana cigarette.
- (slang) A marijuana cigarette. ▸ A cigarette containing marijuana and crack cocaine.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| torpedos | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| torpedoes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
naval mine · AUV · AUV · UUV · naval mine · UUV
Deriveds
torpedo punt (other definitions) · torpedolike (other definitions) · torpedoproof (other definitions) · torpedo tube (other definitions) · torpedinoid (other definitions) · torpedo cruiser (other definitions) · torpedo boat (other definitions) · torpedo bomber (other definitions) · supertorpedo (other definitions) · strawpedo (other definitions) · neato torpedo (other definitions) · common torpedo (an electric ray of the genus Torpedo) · torpedo ram (other definitions) · torpedo net (other definitions) · torpedo boom (other definitions) · narcotorpedo (other definitions) · torpedo stern (other definitions) · torp (other definitions) · torpedo skate (other definitions) · antitorpedo (other definitions) · Bangalore torpedo (other definitions) · torpedo body (other definitions) · torpedo juice (other definitions) · land torpedo (other definitions) · torpedoman (other definitions) · torpedo catcher (other definitions) · Torpex (other definitions) · torpedoist (other definitions) · torpedo roll (other definitions) · spar torpedo (other definitions)
Relateds
Synonyms
bifter · Camberwell carrot · doobie · left-handed cigarette · toke tube · fish · muggle · jazz cigarette · number · jay · reefer · bogie · roach · fish · doinker · bomber · bifta · juju · spliff · zol · bogie · spiff · toke tube · hogger · J · zoot · jay · joint · exotic cheroot · phattie · jimmy · jazz cigarette · hogger · bifta · torp · joint · Camberwell carrot · bifter · blunt · doober · J · doinker · doink · torp · torpedo · bun · muggle · exotic cheroot · spliff · fatty · doober · spiff · doob · left-handed cigarette · doink · bone · roach · zoot · giggle stick · number · torpedo · submarine sandwich · bun · hooter · bone · reefer · doob · blunt · detonator · fatty · land torpedo · phattie · jimmy · juju · giggle stick · bomber · land mine · hooter · zol · doobie
Translations (79)
mk торпе́до (underwater weapon) · id torpedo (underwater weapon) · eo torpedo (underwater weapon) · fi sähkörausku (fish) · sk torpédo (underwater weapon) · it torpedine (fish) · vo torped (underwater weapon) · sl torpedo (underwater weapon) · da torpedo (underwater weapon) · sh торпе́до (underwater weapon) · de Zitterrochen (fish) · cmn 鰩魚 /鳐鱼 (fish) · ky торпеда (underwater weapon) · th ตอร์ปิโด (underwater weapon) · es raya eléctrica (fish) · gl trémaro (fish) · fa-ira تُرْپی (underwater weapon) · hy տորպեդ (underwater weapon) · ug تورپېدا (underwater weapon) · it torpiglia (fish) · bg електри́чески скат (fish) · tg торпеда (underwater weapon) · nb torpedo (underwater weapon) · hu zsibbasztó rája (fish) · fi torpedo (underwater weapon) · tr torpido (underwater weapon) · kk торпеда (underwater weapon) · sq torpilë (underwater weapon) · ko 어뢰 (underwater weapon) · pt torpedo (underwater weapon) · fr torpille (underwater weapon) · be тарпе́да (underwater weapon) · hi टारपीडो (underwater weapon) · bg торпе́до (underwater weapon) · el τορπίλη (underwater weapon) · sh torpédo (underwater weapon) · cs torpédo (underwater weapon) · ro torpedo (underwater weapon) · fr torpille (fish) · de Torpedo (underwater weapon) · is tundurskeyti (underwater weapon) · ro torpilă (underwater weapon) · fa-ira اَژْدَر (underwater weapon) · sq silur (underwater weapon) · bn টর্পেডো (underwater weapon) · mr टॉरपीडो (underwater weapon) · it torpedine (underwater weapon) · be тарпэ́да (underwater weapon) · nl torpedo (underwater weapon) · ja 魚雷 (underwater weapon) · mi tōpīto (underwater weapon) · lt torpeda (underwater weapon) · vi ngư lôi (underwater weapon) · gl torpedo (underwater weapon) · sv torped (underwater weapon) · es torpedo (fish) · ar طُرْبِيد (underwater weapon) · ru торпе́да (underwater weapon) · ru торпе́до (fish) · gu નૌકાનાશક (underwater weapon) · sh др̀хтуља (fish) · ms torpedo (underwater weapon) · pl torpeda (underwater weapon) · es torpedo (underwater weapon) · it siluro (underwater weapon) · az torpeda (underwater weapon) · lv torpēda (underwater weapon) · ca torpede (underwater weapon) · ru электри́ческий скат (fish) · uz torpeda (underwater weapon) · et torpeedo (underwater weapon) · uk торпе́да (underwater weapon) · hi टॉरपीडो (underwater weapon) · hu torpedó (underwater weapon) · sh dr̀htulja (fish) · cmn 魚雷 /鱼雷 (underwater weapon) · mel topedo (underwater weapon) · ka ტორპედო (underwater weapon) · vo torpeod (fish)
wikidata: Q165363 · wikidata: Q178795 · wikidata: Q189929 · wikidata: Q206675 · wikidata: Q165363 · wikidata: Q716482 · wikidata: Q776904