Nantucket sleigh ride

Noun

Nantucket sleigh ride (plural Nantucket sleigh rides)

1. (idiomatic) An instance of the dragging of a whaleboat across the surface of a body of water by a harpooned whale.
   • If we can fasten a good fish tomorrow when you are with us," said the captain of the New Bedford whaling bark Morning Star to me, "I will try to give you a Nantucket sleigh ride."1905 December 31, A. B. Hawser, “My Nantucket sleigh ride”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 22 Aug 2013, page SM10
   • [The] crew pushed out in a small boat and pierced the whale with a harpoon attached to a rope secured to the boat. Then it was hang on for your life. “A whale barreling along at the surface would take the men on the proverbial Nantucket sleigh ride, a bone-jarring, terrifying and, at times, no...2007 July 29, Bruce Barcott, “In the Shadow of Moby-Dick”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 Aug 2013
2. (broadly, idiomatic) An instance of the dragging of a boat (especially a small one) by an aquatic creature or vessel attached to it by a rope or other line.
   • They said they planned to hook the shark with a gaff and go for a "Nantucket sleigh ride."1974, Peter Benchley, Jaws (2012 Random House edition), p. 89 (Google preview)
   • Still fresh in my mind was the 15-pound striped bass that took me on a miniature Nantucket sleigh ride around Sandy Hook Bay last fall.2002 August 26, Stephen C. Sautner, “Outdoors: Just in the Nick of Time, A Largemouth Bass Bites”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 Aug 2013