Deer

n. sing. & pl. [A-S. deor, an animal, especially a wild animal, O. Sax. & D. dier, O. Fries. diar, Icel. & Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, O. H. Ger. tier, N. H. Ger. thier, Goth. dius, Gr. θηρ, Eolic Gr. φηρ, Lat. fera, Slav. zver, Pol. zwierz, Lith. zweris, Lett. swehrs.] (Zoöl.) A ruminant quadruped of the genus Cervus, of several species, the males of which have branched horns.

— The deer hunted in England is the C. elephas, called also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is C. dama; the reindeer, common to Europe and America, C. tarandus; the common American deer, C. Virginianus; the black-tailed deer of Missouri, C. Columbianus.