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Webster 1913 Edition

Deer

Deer

(dēr)
,
Noun.
s
ing.
&
pl.
[OE.
der
,
deor
, animal, wild animal, AS.
deór
; akin to D.
dier
, OFries.
diar
, G.
thier
,
tier
, Icel.
dȳr
, Dan.
dyr
, Sw.
djur
, Goth.
dius
; of unknown origin. √71.]
1.
Any animal; especially, a wild animal.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
Mice and rats, and such small
deer
.
Shakespeare
The camel, that great
deer
.
Lindisfarne MS.
2.
(Zool.)
A ruminant of the genus
Cervus
, of many species, and of related genera of the family
Cervidæ
. 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
.
☞ 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
.
☞
Deer
is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound;
as,
deer
killer,
deer
slayer,
deer
slaying,
deer
hunting,
deer
stealing,
deer
like, 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.”
G. P. Marsh.

Webster 1828 Edition

Deer

DEER

,
Noun.
Sing. And plu. [Gr. A wild beast. The primary sense is simply roving, wild, untamed; hence, a wild beast.] A quadruped of the genus Cervus, of several species, as the stag, the fallow deer, the roe-buck, the rane or rane-deer, &c. These animals are wild and hunted in the forest, or kept in parks. Their flesh called venison, is deemed excellent food.

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