- torpedo something to attack a ship or make it sink using a torpedo用鱼雷袭击(或击沉)
- The destroyer was torpedoed off the coast of Africa.驱逐舰在非洲海岸被鱼雷击中。
Topics War and conflictc2 - torpedo something (informal) to completely destroy the possibility that something could succeed彻底破坏,完全摧毁(某事成功的可能性)
- Her comments had torpedoed the deal.她的一番话使得那笔交易彻底告吹。
Topics Difficulty and failurec2 Word Originearly 16th cent. (originally referring to an electric ray): from Latin, literally ‘stiffness, numbness’, by extension ‘electric ray’ (which gives a shock causing numbness), from torpere ‘be numb or sluggish’. The noun sense dates from the late 18th cent. and first described a timed explosive device for detonation under water.