catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Deer \Deer\ (d[=e]r), n. sing. & pl. [OE. der, deor, animal,
     wild animal, AS. de['o]r; akin to D. dier, OFries. diar, G.
     thier, tier, Icel. d[=y]r, Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, Goth. dius; of
     unknown origin. [root]71.]
     1. Any animal; especially, a wild animal. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
  
              Mice and rats, and such small deer.   --Shak.
  
              The camel, that great deer.           --Lindisfarne
                                                    MS.
  
     2. (Zo["o]l.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many
        species, and of related genera of the family Cervid[ae].
        The males, and in some species the females, have solid
        antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually.
        Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison.
  
     Note: The deer hunted in England is Cervus elaphus, called
           also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is C. dama;
           the common American deer is C. Virginianus; the
           blacktailed deer of Western North America is C.
           Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is
           C. macrotis. See Axis, Fallow deer, Mule deer,
           Reindeer.
  
     Note: Deer is much used adjectively, or as the first part of
           a compound; as, deerkiller, deerslayer, deerslaying,
           deer hunting, deer stealing, deerlike, etc.
  
     Deer mouse (Zo["o]l.), the white-footed mouse ({Hesperomys
        leucopus) of America.
  
     Small deer, petty game, not worth pursuing; -- used
        metaphorically. (See citation from Shakespeare under the
        first definition, above.) ``Minor critics . . . can find
        leisure for the chase of such small deer.'' --G. P. Marsh.