Definition of deer
plural deer
also deers
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Recent Examples of deer from the Web
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Prehistoric deer bones from about 120,000 years ago show how the animals were killed and what weapons were used.
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There are light fixtures made from moose antlers, mounted deer heads above booths and life-size taxidermied grizzly bears in the dining room.
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Spiegel said in response to one of the memo’s assertions: that Snap hired women in revealing costumes designed to look like Snapchat’s deer filter to serve food and pose for pictures at a company party.
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The busiest time of year was pheasant season, from October to the end of January; guests often arrived in helicopters that landed in the deer park, footmen gathering their luggage and ushering them inside.
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Throw open the sliding barn door at the back and watch geese and deer.
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Witnesses testified that a 2001 arson fire occurred shortly after Steven Hammond and his hunting party illegally slaughtered deer on federal Bureau of Land Management property.
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Some counties in Ohio now permit recreational hunters to shoot down invasive deer within town limits.
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Adams made a log hut near present-day Long Barn (Tuolumne County) and fell in with local Indians, shooting deer for them.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'deer.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
The meaning of a word often develops from the general to the specific. For instance, deer is used in modern English to mean several related forms of an animal species, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose. The Old English deor, however, could refer to any animal, tame or wild, or to wild animals in general. In time, deer came to be used only for wild animals that were hunted, and then for the red deer, once widely hunted in England. From that usage the term has spread to related animals, becoming somewhat more general again.
Origin and Etymology of deer
Middle English, deer, animal, from Old English dēor beast; akin to Old High German tior wild animal, Lithuanian dvasia breath, spirit
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: before 12th century
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearDEER Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of deer for English Language Learners
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: a large wild animal that has four long thin legs, brown fur, and antlers if male
DEER Defined for Kids
noun
\
ˈdir
\
Definition of deer for Students
plural deer
: a mammal that has cloven hoofs and in the male antlers which are often branched
Learn More about deer
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See words that rhyme with deer Spanish Central: Translation of deer Nglish: Translation of deer for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of deer for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about deer
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