DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Tor·pe·do n.; pl. Torpedoes
 1. Zool. 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.
 Note: ☞ The common European torpedo (Torpedo vulgaris) and the American species (Torpedo occidentalis) are the best known.
 2. An engine or machine for destroying ships by blowing them up; a mine4. Specifically: --
 (a) A quantity of explosives anchored in a channel, beneath the water, or set adrift in a current, and so designed that they will explode when touched or approached by a vessel, or when an electric circuit is closed by an operator on shore; now called marine mine.  [obsolete]
    Damn the torpedoes -- full speed ahead!   --Adm. David Glasgow Farragut (At the battle of Mobile Bay, 1864).
 (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; now called land mine. [obsolete]
 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.
 7. An automobile with a torpedo body. [Archaic Cant]
 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., especially, a small, fast boat with tubes for launching torpedoes.
 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.

 E·lec·tric E·lec·tric·al a.
 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.”
 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 Zoöl., 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 Zoöl., 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 Zoöl., 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 Zoöl., the torpedo.
 Electric telegraph. See Telegraph.
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