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deer (dîr)n. pl. deer Any of various hoofed ruminant mammals of the family Cervidae, characteristically having deciduous antlers borne chiefly by the males. The deer family also includes the elk, moose, caribou, and reindeer.
[Middle English der, beast, from Old English d or.] Word History: In various Middle English texts one finds a fish, an ant, or a fox called a der, the Middle English ancestor of our word deer. In its Old English form d or, our word referred to any animal, including members of the deer family, and continued to do so in Middle English, although it also acquired the specific sense "a deer." By the end of the Middle English period, around 1500, the general sense had all but disappeared. Deer is a commonly cited example of a semantic process called specialization, by which the range of a word's meaning is narrowed or restricted. When Shakespeare uses the expression "mice and rats, and such small deer" for Edgar's diet in King Lear, probably written in 1605, we are not sure whether deer has the general or the specific sense. It is interesting to note that the German word Tier, the cognate of English deer, still has the general sense of "animal." |
deer Noun pl deer or deers a large hoofed mammal [Old English dēor beast]
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. | deer - distinguished from Bovidae by the male's having solid deciduous antlersantler - deciduous horn of a member of the deer family scut - a short erect tail flag - a conspicuously marked or shaped tail ruminant - any of various cud-chewing hoofed mammals having a stomach divided into four (occasionally three) compartments pricket - male deer in his second year Alces alces, elk, European elk, moose - large northern deer with enormous flattened antlers in the male; called `elk' in Europe and `moose' in North America brocket - small South American deer with unbranched antlers withers - the highest part of the back at the base of the neck of various animals especially draft animals |
Translationsdeer [dɪəʳ] n, pl inv → ciervo deer [dɪəʳ] n pl inv; (Zool); deer [dɪəʳ] n inv → Reh nt; (red) deer → Rotwild nt; deer [dɪəʳ] n ( pl inv): the deer → i cervidi (ZOOL); deern deer [diə]a kind of large, grass-eating animal, the male of which sometimes has antlers a herd of deer.hert, takbokأيِّل، غَزالеленvysoká zvěřhjort; rådyrder Hirschελάφιciervo, venadohirvآهو؛ گوزنhirvi, peuracervidéצְבִיिहरन, मृगjelen, srnaőz, szarvasrusahjartardÿrcervo鹿사슴elniasbriedisrusaherthjortedyrsarna, jeleńveadocăprioarăоленьvysoká zverjelenjelenhjort, rådjurกวางgeyik鹿оленьہرن ، چکارا ، بارہ سنگاhươu, nai鹿
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