What is "torpedo"

marine mine \ma*rine" mine`\, n. (Mil.) A military explosive device designed to be placed on or under the surface of a body of water, and to explode when ships pass nearby or come in contact with it. Its function is to destroy enemy ships or deny hostile naval forces access to certain areas of the sea, usually near the shoreline. Also called underwater mine and floating mine, and previously referred to as a torpedo (See torpedo[2] (a) ).

Mine \Mine\, n. [F., fr. LL. mina. See Mine, v. i.]

1. A subterranean cavity or passage; especially:

   1. A pit or excavation in the earth, from which metallic ores, precious stones, coal, or other mineral substances are taken by digging; -- distinguished from the pits from which stones for architectural purposes are taken, and which are called quarries.

   2. (Mil.) A cavity or tunnel made under a fortification or other work, for the purpose of blowing up the superstructure with some explosive agent.

2. Any place where ore, metals, or precious stones are got by digging or washing the soil; as, a placer mine.

3. (Fig.): A rich source of wealth or other good.
   --Shak.

4. (Mil.) An explosive device placed concealed in a location, on land or at sea, where an enemy vehicle or enemy personnel may pass through, having a triggering mechanism which detects people or vehicles, and which will explode and kill or maim personnel or destroy or damage vehicles. A mine placed at sea (formerly called a torpedo, see torpedo[2]

   1. ) is also called an marine mine and underwater mine and sometimes called a floating mine, even though it may be anchored to the floor of the sea and not actually float freely. A mine placed on land (formerly called a torpedo, see torpedo[3]), usually buried, is called a land mine.

      Mine dial, a form of magnetic compass used by miners.

      Mine pig, pig iron made wholly from ore; in distinction from cinder pig, which is made from ore mixed with forge or mill cinder.

      gold mine (a) a mine where gold is obtained.

   2. (Fig.) a rich source of wealth or other good; same as Mine 3.
      --Raymond.

hit man \hit man\ n.

1. A professional murderer, esp. one working for a criminal organization; also called torpedo. [Colloq.]

2. A slanderer working for political purposes to damage the reputation of an opponent; a hatchet man.

Electric \E*lec"tric\ ([-e]*l[e^]k"tr[i^]k), Electrical \E*lec"tric*al\ ([-e]*l[e^]k"tr[i^]*kal), a. [L. electrum amber, a mixed metal, Gr. 'h`lektron; akin to 'hle`ktwr the beaming sun, cf. Skr. arc to beam, shine: cf. F. ['e]lectrique. The name came from the production of electricity by the friction of amber.]

1. Pertaining to electricity; consisting of, containing, derived from, or produced by, electricity; as, electric power or virtue; an electric jar; electric effects; an electric spark; an electric charge; an electric current; an electrical engineer.

2. Capable of occasioning the phenomena of electricity; as, an electric or electrical machine or substance; an electric generator.

3. Electrifying; thrilling; magnetic. ``Electric Pindar.''
   --Mrs. Browning.

4. powered by electricity; as, electrical appliances; an electric toothbrush; an electric automobile.

   Electric atmosphere, or Electric aura. See under Aura.

   Electrical battery. See Battery.

   Electrical brush. See under Brush.

   Electric cable. See Telegraph cable, under Telegraph.

   Electric candle. See under Candle.

   Electric cat (Zo["o]l.), one of three or more large species of African catfish of the genus Malapterurus (esp. M. electricus of the Nile). They have a large electrical organ and are able to give powerful shocks; -- called also sheathfish.

   Electric clock. See under Clock, and see Electro-chronograph.

   Electric current, a current or stream of electricity traversing a closed circuit formed of conducting substances, or passing by means of conductors from one body to another which is in a different electrical state.

   Electric eel, or Electrical eel (Zo["o]l.), a South American eel-like fresh-water fish of the genus Gymnotus ( G. electricus), from two to five feet in length, capable of giving a violent electric shock. See Gymnotus.

   Electrical fish (Zo["o]l.), any fish which has an electrical organ by means of which it can give an electrical shock. The best known kinds are the torpedo, the gymnotus, or electrical eel, and the electric cat. See Torpedo, and Gymnotus.

   Electric fluid, the supposed matter of electricity; lightning. [archaic]

   Electrical image (Elec.), a collection of electrical points regarded as forming, by an analogy with optical phenomena, an image of certain other electrical points, and used in the solution of electrical problems.
   --Sir W. Thomson.

   Electric machine, or Electrical machine, an apparatus for generating, collecting, or exciting, electricity, as by friction.

   Electric motor. See Electro-motor, 2.

   Electric osmose. (Physics) See under Osmose.

   Electric pen, a hand pen for making perforated stencils for multiplying writings. It has a puncturing needle driven at great speed by a very small magneto-electric engine on the penhandle.

   Electric railway, a railway in which the machinery for moving the cars is driven by an electric current.

   Electric ray (Zo["o]l.), the torpedo.

   Electric telegraph. See Telegraph.

1520s, "electric ray" (flat fish that produces an electric charge to stun prey or for defense), from Latin torpedo "electric ray," originally "numbness, sluggishness" (the fish so called from the effect of being jolted by the ray's electric discharges), from torpere "be numb" (see torpor).\n\nTorpedo. A fish which while alive, if touched even with a long stick, benumbs the hand that so touches it, but when dead is eaten safely.

[Johnson]

"destroy or sink (a ship) by a torpedo," 1874, from torpedo (n.). Also used late 19c. of blowing open oil wells. Figurative sense attested from 1895. Related: Torpedoed; torpedoing.

n. 1 (context military English) A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel underwater and is used as a weapon. 2 A fish having wings that generate http://en.wikipedi

1. org/wiki/electric%20current, a kind of electric ray. 3 (context regional English) A submarine sandwich. 4 (context archaic military English) A naval mine. 5 (context obsolete military English) An explosive device buried underground and set off remotely, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry; a land torpedo 6 (context slang English) A professional gunman or assassin. 7 (context rail transport US English) a small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it 8 A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object. 9 An automobile with a torpedo body. v

2. 1 To send a torpedo, usually from a submarine, that explodes below the waterline of the target ship. 2 To sink a ship with one of more torpedoes. 3 To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a stealthy, powerful attack.

1. v. attack or hit with torpedoes

2. [also: torpedoes (pl)]

1. n. a professional killer who uses a gun [syn: gunman, gunslinger, hired gun, gun, gun for hire, triggerman, hit man, hitman, shooter]

2. 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 [syn: bomber, grinder, hero, hero sandwich, hoagie, hoagy, Cuban sandwich, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, submarine, submarine sandwich, wedge, zep]

3. 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)

4. a small firework that consists of a percussion cap and some gravel wrapped in paper; explodes when thrown forcefully against a hard surface

5. 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

6. armament consisting of a long cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile that detonates on contact with a target

7. 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 [syn: electric ray, crampfish, numbfish]

8. [also: torpedoes (pl)]

A torpedo is a self-propelled explosive projectile that operates underwater.

Torpedo may also refer to:

Torpedo is a genus of rays, commonly known as electric rays, torpedo rays, or torpedoes. They are slow-moving bottom-dwellers capable of generating electricity as a defense and feeding mechanism.

The naval weapon known as the torpedo was named after this genus, whose own name is derived from the Latin word Torpidus meaning "numb" or "paralysed", presumably the sensation one would feel after experiencing the ray's electric shock.

Torpedo, or Torpedo 1936, is a Spanish comics series written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí and drawn by Jordi Bernet, which depicts the adventures of the antagonistic character Luca Torelli, a heartless hitman, and his sidekick Rascal, in context of the violent organized crime culture of New York during the Great Depression era.

Torpedo is the name of five fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Torpedo is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's original SEAL and debuted in 1983.

A torpedo is an explosive device used, especially in the early days of the petroleum industry, to fracture the surrounding rock at the bottom of an oil well to stimulate the flow of oil and to remove built-up paraffin wax that would restrict the flow. Earlier torpedoes used gunpowder, but the use of nitroglycerin eventually became widespread. The development of hydraulic fracturing rendered torpedoes obsolete, and is the primary fracturing process used today.

"Torpedo" is the 13th episode and the season finale of the first season of the animated television series Bob's Burgers. The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 22, 2011. The episode was written by Dan Fybel and Rich Rindali and directed by Kyounghee Lim.

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with its target or in proximity to it.

Historically, it was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive or fish torpedo; colloquially called a fish. The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines. From about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon. The original torpedo is a kind of fish: an electric ray.

While the battleship had evolved primarily around engagements between armoured ships with large-caliber guns, the torpedo allowed torpedo boats and other lighter surface ships, submersibles, even ordinary fishing boats or frogmen, and later, aircraft, to destroy large armoured ships without the need of large guns, though sometimes at the risk of being hit by longer-range shellfire.

Today's torpedoes can be divided into lightweight and heavyweight classes; and into straight-running, autonomous homers, and wire-guided. They can be launched from a variety of platforms.

The torpedo body style was a type of automobile body used from the early twentieth century until the mid-1930s; it fell quickly into disuse by World War II, and the appearance was modernized into what is now called a " hardtop".

The name was introduced in 1908 when a Belgian car dealer Captain Theo Masui, the London-based importer of French Gregoire cars, designed a streamlined body and called it "The Torpedo". This design developed into its final form, becoming a generic term when the bonnet line was raised to be level with the car's waistline, resulting in a straight beltline from front to back.

The Torpedo body style was usually fitted to 4- or 5-seat cars. It was an open tourer with detachable or folding hood (top), and low side panels and doors, but no B pillars; the only uprights present were those supporting the windshield.

Similar styles are phaeton and baquet.

The name is also used for trucks with a bonnet.