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Webster 1913 Edition


Reindeer

Rein′deerˊ

(rān′dēr)
,
Noun.
[Icel.
hreinn
reindeer + E.
deer
. Icel.
hreinn
is of Lapp or Finnish origin; cf. Lappish
reino
pasturage.]
[Formerly written also
raindeer
, and
ranedeer
.]
(Zool.)
Any ruminant of the genus
Rangifer
, of the Deer family, found in the colder parts of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and having long irregularly branched antlers, with the brow tines palmate.
☞ The common European species (
Rangifer tarandus
) is domesticated in Lapland. The woodland reindeer or caribou (
Rangifer caribou
) is found in Canada and Maine (see
Caribou
.) The Barren Ground reindeer or caribou (
Rangifer Groenlandicus
), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in both hemispheries.
Reindeer moss
(Bot.)
,
a gray branching lichen (
Cladonia rangiferina
) which forms extensive patches on the ground in arctic and even in north temperature regions. It is the principal food of the Lapland reindeer in winter.
Reindeer period
(Geol.)
,
a name sometimes given to a part of the Paleolithic era when the reindeer was common over Central Europe.

Webster 1828 Edition


Reindeer

REINDEER

, n.
A species of the cervine genus; more correctly written ranedeer, or rather rane, which is the true name.

Definition 2024


reindeer

reindeer

English

a reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

Wikispecies

Noun

reindeer (plural reindeers or reindeer)

  1. An arctic and subarctic-dwelling deer of the species Rangifer tarandus, with a number of subspecies.
    • 2013 March 1, Nancy Langston, “Mining the Boreal North”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, page 98:
      Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.

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