Definition of "torpedo"

torpedo

/ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/

noun
plural torpedoes or torpedos
1. (zoology) An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
  Quotations
  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 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, [Act I]
  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
  "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, 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.
  Quotations
  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, 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
third-person singular simple present torpedoes, present participle torpedoing, simple past and past participle torpedoed
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.
  Quotations
  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.
  2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian‎