Rein'deer or Reindeer moss, n.

(rān'), n. [Written also raindeer and rane-deer.] [A-S. hrān-dēor. See RANE.] (Zoöl.) A ruminant mammal of the deer kind, of several species, found in the colder part of both hemispheres, having horns whose branches are palmate below, and cylindric above, and having also a hairy muffle. The woodland reindeer (Rangifer caribou) is found east of Lake Superior, from Hudson's Bay to the Northern United States. The bare-ground reindeer (R. [or Tarandus] Groenlandicus), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Sea in both hemispheres.

Reindeer moss (Bot.), a lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), found in arctic regions, where it forms the principal food of the reindeer in winter.