torpedo

Etymology

* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“I am stiff, numb, torpid; I am astounded; I am 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.

noun

1. (zoology) An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
   "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, →OCLC, page 286
2. (military) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
   1. (science fiction) A similar projectile that can travel through space.
3. (regional) A submarine sandwich.
4. (archaic, military) A naval mine.
5. (obsolete, military) An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo.
6. (slang) A professional gunman or assassin.
7. (rail transport, US) A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
8. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
9. (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.
10. (neuroscience) 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. 2016-11-02, 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
11. (slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
12. (slang, chiefly US, usually in the plural) A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.
13. (slang) A marijuana cigarette.
    1. A thick marijuana cigarette.
    2. A cigarette containing marijuana and crack cocaine.

verb

1. To strike (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
2. To sink (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
3. (figurative) To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a stealthy, powerful attack.
   The left-back had been a selection concern because of an injury niggle but his first goal since last March swung this derby decisively in United’s favour, extending their club record unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League to 22 games and torpedoing City’s sequence of 21 straight wins in all competitions. 7 March 2021, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian