torpedo

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A cigar-shaped, self-propelled underwater projectile launched from a submarine, aircraft, or ship and designed to detonate on contact with or in the vicinity of a target.
2. n. Any of various submarine explosive devices, especially a submarine mine.
3. n. A small explosive placed on a railroad track that is fired by the weight of the train to sound a warning of an approaching hazard.
4. n. An explosive fired in an oil or gas well to begin or increase the flow.
5. n. A small firework consisting of gravel wrapped in tissue paper with a percussion cap that explodes when thrown against a hard surface.
6. n. See electric ray.
7. n. Slang A professional assassin or thug.
8. n. Chiefly New Jersey See submarine. See Regional Note at submarine.
9. v. To attack, strike, or sink with a torpedo.
10. v. To destroy decisively; wreck: torpedo efforts at reform.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In sinking oil-wells in a petroleum district, to explode a charge of nitroglycerin at the bottom of (the drilled well) in order to shatter the rock and increase the flow of oil. Charges of from 20 to 80 quarts of the explosive are frequently used, and are contained in tin-plate cases, which are carefully lowered into position and exploded by the dropping of a heavy iron cylinder from above.
2. n. A fish of the genus Torpedo or family Torpedinidæ; an electric ray; a cramp-fish or numb-fish.
3. n. The typical genus of the family Torpedinidæ. It is now restricted to electric rays whose trunk is very broad and disk-like, evenly rounded in front and on the sides, and abruptly contracted at the tail, whose caudal fin is well developed, and which have two dorsals, large separate ventrals, and the skin perfectly smooth. They are large rays, chiefly of Atlantic waters, T. occidentalis, which is found along the Atlantic coast of North America, though not very common there, attains a length of about five feet; it is nearly uniform blackish above, and white below. T. californica, of the opposite coast, is a spotted species.
4. n. An explosive device belonging to either of two distinct classes of submarine destructive agents used in war—namely, torpedoes proper, which are propelled against an enemy's ship, and more or less stationary submarine mines, placed where a hostile vessel would be likely to come within range of their destructive effect. Of the first class, called also offensive torpedoes, there are three principal types: the locomotive or automobile torpedo, which class includes the Whitehead and many other patterns generally designated by the name of the inventor.
5. n. Hence, some other explosive agent. Specifically
6. n. In medicine, narcosis; stupor.
7. To attack with torpedoes; explode a torpedo under or in.
8. To use or explode torpedoes.

Wiktionary

1. n. military A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon.
2. n. A fish having wings that generate electric current, a kind of electric ray.
3. n. regional A submarine sandwich.
4. n. archaic, military A naval mine.
5. n. obsolete, military An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo
6. n. slang A professional gunman or assassin.
7. n. 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. v. To send a torpedo, usually from a submarine, that explodes below the waterline of the target ship.
9. v. To sink a ship with one of more torpedoes.
10. v. To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a stealthy, powerful attack.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of elasmobranch fishes belonging to Torpedo and allied genera. They are related to the rays, but have the power of giving electrical shocks. Called also crampfish, and numbfish. See Electrical fish, under Electrical.
2. n. An engine or machine for destroying ships by blowing them up; a mine{4}.
3. n. obsolete A quantity of explosives anchored in a channel, beneath the water, or set adrift in a current, and so designed that they will explode when touched or approached by a vessel, or when an electric circuit is closed by an operator on shore; now called marine mine.
4. n. A kind of small submarine boat carrying an explosive charge, and projected from a ship against another ship at a distance, or made self-propelling, and otherwise automatic in its action against a distant ship.
5. n. (Mil.), obsolete A kind of shell or cartridge buried in earth, to be exploded by electricity or by stepping on it; now called land mine.
6. n. (Railroad) A kind of detonating cartridge or shell placed on a rail, and exploded when crushed under the locomotive wheels, -- used as an alarm signal.
7. n. An explosive cartridge or shell lowered or dropped into a bored oil well, and there exploded, to clear the well of obstructions or to open communication with a source of supply of oil.
8. n. A kind of firework in the form of small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
9. n. Archaic Cant An automobile with a torpedo body.
10. v. to destroy by, or subject to the action of, a torpedo.
11. v. To destroy, cause to halt, or prevent from being accomplished; -- used esp. with reference to a plan or an enterprise, halted by some action before the plan is put into execution.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an explosive device that is set off in an oil well (or a gas well) to start or to increase the flow of oil (or gas)
2. v. attack or hit with torpedoes
3. n. a professional killer who uses a gun
4. n. any sluggish bottom-dwelling ray of the order Torpediniformes having a rounded body and electric organs on each side of the head capable of emitting strong electric discharges
5. n. a large sandwich made of a long crusty roll split lengthwise and filled with meats and cheese (and tomato and onion and lettuce and condiments); different names are used in different sections of the United States
6. n. a small firework that consists of a percussion cap and some gravel wrapped in paper; explodes when thrown forcefully against a hard surface
7. n. a small explosive device that is placed on a railroad track and fires when a train runs over it; the sound of the explosion warns the engineer of danger ahead
8. n. armament consisting of a long cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile that detonates on contact with a target