stag

noun \ ˈstag \

Updated on: 18 Apr 2018

Definition of stag

plural stags

1 or plural stag : an adult male red deer; also : the male of various other deer (especially genus Cervus)

2 chiefly Scotland : a young horse; especially : a young unbroken stallion

3 : a male animal castrated after sexual maturity — compare steer 1

4 : a young adult male domestic chicken or turkey

5 a : a social gathering of men only

b : one who attends a dance or party without a companion

See stag defined for English-language learners

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Recent Examples of stag from the Web

This is the remarkable moment a lucky man managed to capture two majestic stags rutting under a perfect rainbow.

— arthur vundla, Fox News, "Hiker captures incredible photos of stags against perfect rainbow," 21 Mar. 2018
The Royer garden in Poway has statuary throughout, including hounds on the hunt, a stag peeking out at visitors and a mountain lion lurking on a tree limb in the front of the home.

— elizabeth marie himchak, Pomerado News, "Spring garden tour returns to Rancho Bernardo, Poway," 7 Mar. 2018
As the lights go down, there is a magical moment when spots linger on the various life-size stuffed animals mounted on walls and standing around the room: a bear, a stag’s head, a fox, a turkey.

— toby zinman, Philly.com, "'Love, Lies and Taxidermy' at Inis Nua: Failure to launch," 19 Feb. 2018
The Beaumont Enterprise reports the young red kangaroos are two of the 17 marsupials Viator keeps on his 12-acre property, along with several dogs, a miniature donkey named Rocky, and more than 55 red stag deer.

— liz teitz, The Seattle Times, "Texan finds good-fence challenges in raising kangaroos," 28 Jan. 2018
The city acquired the Portland Oregon sign in 2010 and secured the rights from the state to use the sign's stag image on products other than beer the following year.

— jessica floum, OregonLive.com, "Local brewery triumphs over city of Portland in years-long beer dispute," 22 Jan. 2018
While sitting on top of the stags, the monkeys groomed their backs and head.

— kristine phillips, Washington Post, "Yes, that’s a monkey grinding on top of a deer," 16 Dec. 2017
This comes just weeks after Stenhouse went stag to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards in November.

— michelle r. martinelli, USA TODAY, "Danica, Stenhouse Jr.'s 15 best moments as couple," 19 Dec. 2017
But once giant sloths, stag-moose and mastodons became extinct and human developments grew across North America, the California condor population took a nosedive.

— kyle frischkorn, Smithsonian, "Behind the Scenes: Skinning Condors in the Name of Science," 25 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stag.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.