torpedo
/ˌtoɹˈpi.doʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.44 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
noun
A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon.
noun
A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon.
noun
An explosive device buried underground, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry.
Obsolete
noun
A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "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"
- "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 […]."
- ""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!""
- "I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano."
- "Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long."
- "And if fate should turn her back on them, or turn away from them, leaving them to their own devices, and should they find themselves be sore afraid, then they would simply sail away to the other side of the world. They would ride like the wind. They would sail once more into the breach and damn the torpedos! God save the Queen! And the devil take the hindmost!"
Etymology
* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“to be stiff, numb, torpid; to be astounded; to be 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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌtoɹˈpi.doʊ/
- British English: /ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/
Usage
- Archaic
- Obsolete
- American usage
- Slang
- Transitive verb