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Definition of harpoon noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

harpoon

noun
 
/hɑːˈpuːn/
 
/hɑːrˈpuːn/
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  1. a weapon like a spear attached to a long rope that you can throw or fire from a gun and is used for catching large fish, whales, etc.
    • Traditionally whales were hunted with harpoons.
    Oxford Collocations DictionaryHarpoon is used before these nouns:
    • gun
    See full entry
    Word Originearly 17th cent. (denoting a barbed dart or spear): from French harpon, from harpe ‘dog's claw, clamp’, via Latin from Greek harpē ‘sickle’.
See harpoon in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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