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Definition of Harpoon
1. Verb. Spear with a harpoon. "Harpoon whales"
2. Noun. A spear with a shaft and barbed point for throwing; used for catching large fish or whales; a strong line is attached to it.
Terms within: Fluke, Harpoon Line
Generic synonyms: Fishgig, Fizgig, Gig, Lance, Spear
Derivative terms: Harpooneer
Definition of Harpoon
1. n. A spear or javelin used to strike and kill large fish, as whales; a harping iron. It consists of a long shank, with a broad, fiat, triangular head, sharpened at both edges, and is thrown by hand, or discharged from a gun.
2. v. t. To strike, catch, or kill with a harpoon.
Definition of Harpoon
1. Noun. A spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large fish. ¹
2. Noun. (slang) A harmonica. ¹
3. Verb. (transitive) To hunt something with a harpoon. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Harpoon
1. to strike with a harpoon [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Medical Definition of Harpoon
1. A spear or javelin used to strike and kill large fish, as whales; a harping iron. It consists of a long shank, with a broad, fiat, triangular head, sharpened at both edges, and is thrown by hand, or discharged from a gun. Harpoon fork, a kind of hayfork, consisting of bar with hinged barbs at one end a loop for a rope at the other end, used for lifting hay from the load by horse power. Harpoon gun, a gun used in the whale fishery for shooting the harpoon into a whale. Origin: F. Harpon, LL. Harpo, perh. Of Ger. Origin, fr. The harp; cf. F. Harper to take and grasp strongly, harpe a dog's claw, harpin boathook (the sense of hook coming from the shape of the harp); but cf. Also Gr. The kite, sickle, and E. Harpy. Cf. Harp. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Harpoon
Literary usage of Harpoon
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Encyclopaedia Americana: A Popular Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature by Francis Lieber, Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1831)
"The two principal withers, in the present improved harpoon, measure about eight
inches in length and six in breadth ; the shank is eighteen inches to two ..."
2. Lake Ngami, Or, Explorations and Discoveries During Four Years' Wanderings by Charles John Andersson, John Charles Frémont (1857)
"HIPPOPOTAMUS harpoon. The harpoon (of iron), A, is, as seen in the above diagram,
short and strong, and provided with a single barb, B. The shaft, ..."
3. Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition by John Murdoch (1892)
"harpoon head 218 207. harpoon head 219 208. Ancient bone harpoon head 219 209.
... Bone harpoon head 220 212. harpoon head, bone and stone 221 213. ..."
4. The Archaeological Journal by British Archaeological Association (1908)
"A harpoon (fig. 37), of the same type as the Oban specimen, was found in the
Victoria Cave, with regard to which Professor Boyd Dawkins thus writes : " At ..."
5. On the Zoological Position of Texas by Edward Drinker Cope (1880)
"Handle of whaling-harpoon made of bone and wood. Eskimos. Greenland. ...
Whaling-harpoon of recent manufacture, with head of bone and iron, handle of wood ..."
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