Exocet [ek-soh-set] Trademark. a winged, radar-guided French anti-ship missile, launched from the surface or an aircraft, that skims the waves at close to the speed of sound. Liberaldictionary.com
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 British Dictionary definitions for exocet Exocet noun trademark a tactical missile with a high-explosive warhead, which is guided by computer and radar, travels at a very low altitude at high subsonic speed, and has a range of up to 70 km. It may be launched from a ship, aircraft, or submarine Word Origin for Exocet C20: from French, from New Latin Exocoetus volitans flying fish Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for exocet Exocet
1970, proprietary name of a rocket-propelled short-range guided missile, trademarked 1970 by Société Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale, from French exocet “flying fish” (16c.), from Latin exocoetus, from Greek exokoitos “sleeping fish, fish that sleeps upon the beach,” from exo “outside” + koitos “bed.”
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper