DEER • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Deer

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noun

Deer n.

Any animal; especially, a wild animal. (Obs.) "Mice and rats, and such small deer." "The camel, that great deer."

(Zool.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervidae. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison. Note: The deer hunted in England is Cervus elaphus, called also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is Cervus dama; the common American deer is Cervus Virginianus; the blacktailed deer of Western North America is Cervus Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is Cervus macrotis. See Axis, Fallow deer, Mule deer, Reindeer. Note: Deer is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, deerkiller, deerslayer, deerslaying, deer hunting, deer stealing, deerlike, etc.

Deer mouse (Zool.), the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus, formerly Hesperomys leucopus) of America.

Small deer, petty game, not worth pursuing; used metaphorically. (See citation from Shakespeare under the first definition, above.) "Minor critics... can find leisure for the chase of such small deer."

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Etymology of 'Deer'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deer" Quotes from Famous Books

... in your head. They'll have you in the bug-house at Black-foot, sure as you live." He looked at the saddle, hesitated, looked again at Swan, who was watching him. "That blood most likely got there when Fred was packing a deer in from the hills. And marks on them old oxbow stirrups don't mean a damn thing but the need of a new pair, maybe." He forced a laugh and stepped outside the shed. "Just shows you, Swan, that imagination and being alone all the time can ...

— Sawtooth Ranch • B. M. Bower

... seigneur, the Chevalier de Merlus, whom the ladies Lespoisse had brought with them, organized the beats. Bluebeard had the best packs of hounds and the largest turnout in the countryside. The ladies rivalled the ardour of the gentlemen in hunting the deer. They did not always hunt the animal down, but the hunters and their ladies wandered away in couples, found one another, and again wandered off into the woods. For choice, the Chevalier de la Merlus would lose himself with Jeanne de Lespoisse, and both would return to the ...

— The Seven Wives Of Bluebeard - 1920 • Anatole France

... seen the ill-omened form of Uncle Lorne among its solitudes, the descending sun shone across it with a saddened glory, tipping with gold the blades of grass and the brown antlers of the distant deer. ...

— Wylder's Hand • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... city, he saw obelisks of antiquity to the right and left, and a wall of six feet was constructed along the road to the courtyard, which was filled with underbrush and planted thickly with trees and shrubbery. In this miniature forest were hidden deer and ...

— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 6 • Various

... deer's horn give, Mark well its golden gleam; All the drink thou wishest for, From ...

— Young Swaigder, or The Force of Runes - and Other Ballads • Anonymous

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