torpedo-boat destroyer

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tor·pe·do-boat destroyer

(tôr-pē′dō-bōt′)

A large, heavily armed torpedo boat used in combat especially against other torpedo boats, notably in the early 1900s.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

torpedo-boat destroyer

(Historical Terms) (formerly) a large powerful high-speed torpedo boat designed to destroy enemy torpedo boats: a forerunner of the modern destroyer, from which the name is derived

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

torpedo-boat destroyer - small destroyer that was the forerunner of modern destroyers; designed to destroy torpedo boats

destroyer, guided missile destroyer - a small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship

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