Plural of harpoon; long pointed weapons with barbed heads, thrown or shot to catch large fish or whales.
From French harpon (from harper, 'to grasp'), plural with the -s suffix. French acquired the word from Germanic roots, possibly related to 'harp' in the sense of grasping or gripping.
Harpoon design was a centuries-long technological race—whalers constantly invented new head designs that would lodge deeper in whale flesh while still being retrievable, some with detachable shafts that stayed in the whale while the rope played out from the ship.
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