harpoon
/hɑːˈpuːn
/noun
A barbed spear-like missile attached to a long rope and thrown by hand or fired from a gun, used for catching whales and other large sea creatures.The whale-line is the length of rope attached to the harpoon, which connects the boat to the whale it is following....
- If he throws the harpoon, the whale must be directly in front of his kayak, about 30 feet away, close but not too close - or the animal's powerful dive will submerge him and he will likely drown.
- Makah whalers threw harpoons on three occasions, but the harpoons did not attach to a gray whale on any of these attempts.
Synonyms
spear, trident, arrow, dart, barb
rare gaff, leister
verb [with object]
Spear with a harpoon: Gilbert’s father harpooned a five-metre basking shark...
- For a monarch caterpillar, ingesting milkweed poisons is not a surefire defense against a predatory stinkbug, which harpoons its victims before sucking up the body fluids.
- Government-owned radio RTHK said Lever tried to harpoon the croc but missed because it was too far away.
- When a whale was sighted in the bay, boats from the rival stations would race to be the first to harpoon the animal.
Derivatives
harpooner
/ noun ...- Into the early twentieth century, before the decline of the whaling industry, Cape Verdeans were prominent on the Whalers, serving in every capacity from ship captains to harpooners to shipmates.
- The two men became fast friends, both signing on as harpooners aboard the Pequod, a Quaker-owned whaler out of Nantucket.
- Foremost among the whalers was the harpooner and among the great harpooners the name of Ollivierre stands out.
Origin
Early 17th century (denoting a barbed dart or spear): from French harpon, from harpe 'dog's claw, clamp', via Latin from Greek harpē 'sickle'.