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harpooner

American  
[hahr-poon-er] / hɑrˈpun ər /

noun

  1. a person who uses a harpoon, especially to fish or to hunt marine animals.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Kent frames his illustration of Daggoo, the African crewman, darting a sperm whale from directly behind the harpooner, depicting him in muscular silhouette.

From The Wall Street Journal Jan. 2, 2026

I could easily imagine the harpooner as an eloquent representative of a nation in danger of being swallowed up by rising waters.

From Salon Dec. 11, 2021

Well along in the epic of “Moby-Dick,” the master harpooner named Queequeg falls so ill that he is convinced he will die before the whaling ship Pequod returns to land.

From New York Times Dec. 22, 2017

Queequeg, named after both the dog on “The X-Files” and the harpooner in “Moby-Dick,” was a tiny ball of German shepherd fuzz the first time my husband and I saw him.

From Washington Post May 19, 2017

I never been out on Fin Chaser, but I know all about it because my dad used to be the best harpooner on the crew.

From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick

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