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.-an engine or machine for destroying ships by blowing them up.-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.-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.-a kind of shell or cartridge buried in earth, to be exploded by electricity or by stepping on it.-a kind of detonating cartridge or shell placed on a rail, and exploded when crushed under the locomotive wheels, -- used as an alarm signal.-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.-a kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.-to destroy by, or subject to the action of, a torpedo.