(pl. torpedoes) a long narrow bomb that is fired under the water from a ship or submarine and that explodes when it hits a ship, etc. Wordfindernavyadmiral, aircraft carrier, base, captain, command, fleet, navy, submarine, torpedo, warship Oxford Collocations Dictionary verb + torpedocarry, fire, launch, … torpedo + verbhit something, strike something torpedo + nountube, boat, bomber, … See full entry See related entries: Weapons Word Originearly 16th cent. (originally referring to an electric ray): from Latin, literally ‘stiffness, numbness’, by extension ‘electric ray’ (which gives a shock causing numbness), from torpere ‘be numb or sluggish’. The noun sense dates from the late 18th cent. and first described a timed explosive device for detonation under water.
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