tarpon
Americannoun
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tarpons,
plural
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tarpon
plural
noun
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a large silvery clupeoid game fish, Tarpon atlanticus, of warm Atlantic waters, having a compressed body covered with large scales: family Elopidae
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another name for ox-eye herring
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any similar related fish
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of tarpon
1675–85; earlier tarpum, trapham, terbum, of uncertain origin; compare Dutch tarpoen; words in various Indian languages of Central America ( Miskito tapam, Sumo tahpam, Rama tā́pum, Paya ta’pam ) probably ultimately < English
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:
Our example, upfitted with the Launch Package specification, did just that, ripping away from red lights like a spooked tarpon, and me just hanging on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026
Modern tarpon are large predatory fish that typically swallow smaller fish whole.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
"Bahia Honda has most likely been a place where sharks and tarpon have congregated for a very long time," says Andy Danylchuk, senior author and professor of fish conservation at UMass Amherst.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2024
Called the "depredation rate," the team found that 15.3% of tarpon that were hooked by anglers and fought for more than five minutes were eaten while still on the line.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2024
The splash of a feeding tarpon upstream put him on alert, and sure enough, the surface of the water began to shake and boil.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
"It greatly expands our knowledge of the evolutionary history of tarpons, and it preserves unique and unusual features in exquisite 3D detail," he says.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
That did not include more than 100 manatees statewide and an untold number of fish, as well as large animals such as sharks and tarpons.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 28, 2018
We would swim with the tarpons and snorkel the reefs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2018
As bites taper off, we pull anchor and head farther upstream, eyes out for telltale rolling of feeding tarpons.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2017
It won't be us who have to make Tom stay away from the tarpons, he wants to himself now.
From Elizabeth Visits America by Elinor Glyn
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
