Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Torpedo

Tor·pe′do (tôr·pē′dō), n.; pl. Torpedoes (#). [L. torpedo, -inis, from torpere to be stiff, numb, or torpid. See Torpid.]

1. (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.

☞ The common European torpedo (T. vulgaris) and the American species (T. occidentalis) are the best known.

2. An engine or machine for destroying ships by blowing them up. Specifically: —

(a) A quantity of explosives anchored in a channel, beneath the water, or set adrift in a current, and so arranged that they will be exploded when touched by a vessel, or when an electric circuit is closed by an operator on shore.

(b) 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.

3. (Mil.) A kind of shell or cartridge buried in earth, to be exploded by electricity or by stepping on it.

4. (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.

5. 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.

6. A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.

Fish torpedo, a spindle-shaped, or fish-shaped, self-propelling submarine torpedo. — Spar torpedo, a canister or other vessel containing an explosive charge, and attached to the end of a long spar which projects from a ship or boat and is thrust against an enemy's ship, exploding the torpedo. — Torpedo boat, a vessel adapted for carrying, launching, operating, or otherwise making use of, torpedoes against an enemy's ship. — Torpedo nettings, nettings made of chains or bars, which can be suspended around a vessel and allowed to sink beneath the surface of the water, as a protection against torpedoes.

Tor·pe′do, v. t. to destroy by, or subject to the action of, a torpedo. London Spectator.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.