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/dɪr/ Listen

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

... Eastern cities faded into insignificance, when compared with his surroundings; for here he reigned lord of the valley's long and wide domain, that abounded in deer, game and furred animals, whilst its streams swarmed with fish. He was truly one of Nature's noblemen—kind and affectionate to his beautiful and lovely wife and children, charitable and humane to all. He was ...

— The Forest King - Wild Hunter of the Adaca • Hervey Keyes

... great glee, whipping his horse with his hat as was his custom when in a tight place, a volley, intended for them, came rattling into us. Two or three citizens who had collected to see the fun fled like deer, although one of them was a cripple—and, to tell the truth, ...

— History of Morgan's Cavalry • Basil W. Duke

... of age his father purchased a farm six miles from Salem. It was indeed an eventful day for young William when they moved to the large farm with its spacious farm house and broad lawns. From the first the animals interested him most. William's father, seeing this, built a small deer park. Here the deer, unmolested by dogs or hunters, became so tame that the lad never tired of ...

— Modern Americans - A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades • Chester Sanford

... least five o'clock, and in the meantime they would ride over to the spring and pretend they were starving. That is, Dorothy and Bartley were to pretend they were starving, while Jimmy scouted for meat and incidentally shot a couple of Indians and returned with a noble buck deer hanging across ...

— Partners of Chance • Henry Herbert Knibbs

... for all he passed— Trees, plants, and flowers no substance wore, And birds and beasts were but the souls Of those that dwelt on earth before;— Yet birds swept by on joyous wing, And, pausing, gazed the timid deer With fearless look, as if to say, "We have ...

— Poems of the Heart and Home • Mrs. J.C. Yule (Pamela S. Vining)

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