torpedo

Meanings

Noun

• An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
• A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
• A submarine sandwich.
• A naval mine.
• An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.
• A professional gunman or assassin.
• 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.
• An automobile with a torpedo body.
• A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
• A large breast; breast with a large nipple.
• A marijuana cigarette.

Verb

• To send a torpedo, usually from a submarine, that explodes below the waterline of the target ship.
• To sink a ship with one of more torpedoes.
• To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a stealthy, powerful attack.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin torpēdō ("a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray"), from torpeō + -ēdō, from Proto-Indo-European *ster- ("stiff"). In the military sense .
• Cognate with Old English steorfan ("to die"), Ancient Greek στερεός ("solid"), Lithuanian tirpstu ("to become rigid"), Old Church Slavonic трупети.