From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtorpedotor‧pe‧do1 /tɔːˈpiːdəʊ $ tɔːrˈpiːdoʊ/ noun (plural torpedoes) [countable] PMWa long narrow weapon that is fired under the surface of the sea and explodes when it hits something
Examples from the Corpus
torpedo• Pearl Harbor had impressed on us the importance of protecting ships against torpedo attacks, even in home waters.• I can't raise the forward torpedo compartment.• Captain Nagumo, an expert in torpedo warfare, was the right man in the right place.• Next to me a girl eating a box of liquorice torpedoes.• A number of motor torpedo boats were also brought in to be employed for short-range coastal patrol and night attack missions.• Two of the torpedoes struck below the waterline on the port side near the aviation fuel tanks.• The torpedoes had burst harmlessly, many kilometres away.torpedotorpedo2 verb [transitive] 1 PMWto attack or destroy a ship with a torpedo2 STOP something THAT IS HAPPENINGto stop something such as a plan from succeeding SYN destroy New threats of violence have effectively torpedoed the peace talks.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
torpedo• We were to fly across, which suited me, as I had a morbid fear of being torpedoed at sea.• The Dutch ship was torpedoed by an enemy submarine in March of 1942.• Aron has accused Brock of conspiring with his campaign staff to torpedo her candidacy by labeling her a criminal.• Panicky Western politicians know that an economic golden age was torpedoed once before by rising oil prices.• The CEO torpedoed the deal in its final hours.• As might be expected, however, the military brass sounded battle stations and eventually torpedoed the idea.• But the grand design was torpedoed when Lord Hanson made a bid for Imperial that shareholders found impossible to resist.Origin torpedo1 (1700-1800) torpedo type of fish that can produce electricity to protect itself ((16-21 centuries)), from Latin, “stiffness, numbness, torpedo fish”, from torpere; → TORPID 