Definition of "whale-lance" [whale-lance]

• The lance used in striking a whale, It may be either a hand-lance or a bomb-lance, but the term is more frequently applied to the former. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "They are mostly young, of stalwart frames; fellows who have felled forests, and now seek to drop the axe and snatch the whale-lance."
• "It receives its designation (pitchpoling) from its being likened to that preliminary up-and-down poise of the whale-lance, in the exercise called pitchpoling previously described."
• "Early in the morning, Baker, Davy Butts, and Gregory set off on foot, armed with a rifle and two muskets, besides a couple of harpoons, a whale-lance, and a long line."