TORPEDO

I. noun (plural -does) see: torpid Date: circa 1520 electric ray , a weapon for destroying ships by rupturing their hulls below the waterline: as, a submarine mine, a thin cylindrical self-propelled underwater projectile, a small firework that explodes when thrown against a hard object, a professional gunman or assassin, submarine 2, II. transitive verb (~ed; ~ing) Date: circa 1879 to hit or sink (a ship) with a naval ~ ; strike or destroy by ~, to destroy or nullify altogether ; wreck