harpoon line
- noun
:
línea de arpón
- The crew worked together to untangle the harpoon line before the next hunt.
Examples
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After taking the shot, he swiftly pulled on the harpoon line to reel in the fish.
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EDDIE, GET THE HARPOON LINE.
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The fisherman secured the catch with a strong harpoon line to prevent it from escaping.
How Strong
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a strong rope attached to a harpoon' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'harpoon' (barbed spear for whales/fish) with 'line' (a long thin rope). This simple noun–noun compound follows regular compositional patterns found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Harpoon line comes from old whale hunting: it is the strong rope tied to the harpoon that keeps a caught whale attached to the boat. That's why a 'harpoon line' means a heavy rope used to 'secure' a large 'catch'.