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deer

deer

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

deer ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae, found in most parts of the world except Australia. Antlers, solid bony outgrowths of the skull, develop in the males of most species and are shed and renewed annually. They are at first covered by "velvet," a soft, hairy skin permeated by blood vessels. The stem of the antler is called the beam, and the branches are the tines. Antlers are used as weapons during breeding-season combats between bucks. In deer that lack antlers (the musk deer and Chinese river deer), long upper canines serve as weapons. Deer are polygamous. They eat a variety of herbaceous plants, lichens, mosses, and tree leaves and bark.

The white-tailed deer that live in woodlands throughout the United States and in Central America and N South America was a source of food, buckskin, and other necessities for Native Americans and white settlers. Deer flesh, called venison, is still considered a delicacy. Slaughter through the years nearly exterminated the whitetail, but it is now restored in large numbers in the E United States and to a lesser extent in the West. In summer its upper parts are reddish brown, in winter grayish. The mule deer exists in reduced numbers from the Plains region westward, and the closely related black-tailed deer is a Pacific coast form.

Old World deer include the red deer, closely related to the North American wapiti , the fallow deer, and the axis deer. The only deer in Africa are small numbers of red deer found in the north in a forested area. The barking deer, or muntjac, is a small deer of S Asia. A muntjac discovered in N Myanmar (formerly Burma) in 1997 is believed to be the smallest deer in the world. Called the leaf deer, Muntiacus putaoensis, it stands about 20 in. (45 cm) at the shoulder. The misleadingly named mouse deer, or chevrotain , is not a deer, but belongs to a related family (Tragulidae). Many species of deer are threatened with extinction. Deer are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Cervidae.

See also caribou ; elk ; moose ; Père David's deer ; reindeer .

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Deer

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology | 2004 | | Copyright

Deer [ScG doire, forest; cf. deur, tear]. Monastery and village in north Aberdeenshire that has figured prominently in Scottish history. Although thought to have been founded in the 6th century by Colum Cille [St Columba] and his Scottish disciple Drostán, the site was occupied by the Cistercians in 1218–19. The Latin Book of Deer, c. 9th century, contains some added Gaelic entries, c.1130–c.1150, and so precedes that first great collection of Gaelic writing, the Book of the Dean of Lismore, by four centuries. Popular tradition asserts that Deer was named for the tear [deur] Colum Cille shed as he departed the site.

Bibliography

See Kenneth H. Jackson , The Gaelic Notes in the Book of Deer (Cambridge, 1972)

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JAMES MacKILLOP. "Deer." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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deer

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology | 2004 | | Copyright

deer. The familiar ruminant, swift-footed animal of European forests (Cervidae) has long played an important role in the Celtic imagination, especially the male of the species, the mighty horned stag, which was an important cult animal in early times. The god of the Continental Celts, Cernunnos, has the antlers of a stag; see also HORNED GOD. J. G. MacKay has reported on deer worship in early Scotland, especially in the Lochaber region of the Highlands (until 1974, Inverness-shire); see ‘The Deer-Cult and Deer Goddess of the Ancient Caledonians’, Folklore, 43 (1932), 144–74. The sianach is a deermonster of Scottish Gaelic tradition. In the vernacular tradition of Celtic countries deer commonly entice heroes into the realm of the gods. Sálbuide, son of the king of Munster, died in a deer chase, along with thirty warriors, thirty attendants, and thirty deer-hounds. In another Irish story a jealous woman turned 100 girls into deer. Both mortals and fairies may be turned into deer. Lugaid Laígde, the Érainn king, pursued a fawn who was the divine personification of Ireland. Shape-shifting Mongán takes the form of a deer. Aige was transformed into a fawn. When Pryderi and Gilfaethwy in Math, the fourth branch of the Mabinogi, are turned into a stag and hind, they produce at the end of one year a fawn named Hyddwn. J. Fife comments on the deer-hunting episode of ‘Pwyll’, the second branch: Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 39 (1992), 72ff. Sadb mates with Fionn mac Cumhaill under the form of a deer to produce Oisín, whose name means ‘Little Fawn’. The Irish goddess Flidais drove a chariot drawn by deer. The king of the deer in Ireland was Tuan mac Cairill.

An early Christian prayer-poem attributed to St Patrick, ‘The Deer's Cry’ or ‘St Patrick's Breastplate’, speaks of the saint's escape from his enemies while in the form of a deer. In this instance Patrick has used the power to make himself invisible or to take animal form, féth fíada, previously attributed to druids and pre-Christian religion. The short poem, often compared in structure and antiquity to the Anglo-Saxon ‘Caedmon's Hymn’, has been translated many times, recently by Malachi McCormick (Dublin, 1983).

The word for deer in OIr. is fiad; ModIr. fia, fiadh; ScG fiadh; Manx feeaih; W carw; Corn. carow; Bret. karv. See also FAWN.
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deer

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

deer Long-legged, hoofed, ruminant. There are 53 species in 17 genera distributed worldwide. In most species, the male (buck, hart or stag) bears antlers. Only in reindeer does the female (hind or doe) bear antlers. Deer often gather in herds. They are generally brown, with spotted young (fawns) and eat bark, shoots, twigs and grass. Humans exploit them for their meat (venison), hides and antlers (for hunting trophies). The deer family Cervidae has existed since the Oligocene epoch. The Chinese water deer is the smallest, measuring 55cm (22in) tall at the shoulder; the largest is the elk, at 2m (6.5ft).
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deer

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

deer †animal OE.; antlered ruminant XII. OE. dēor = OS. dior (Du. dier), OHG. tior (G. tier), ON. dýr, Goth. *dius (in d. pl. diuzam) :- Gmc. *deuzam :- IE. *dheusóm orig. ‘breathing creature’ (cf. the sense-development in ANIMAL), if rel. to OSl. duchǔ, duša breath, Lith. dùsti sigh.
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T. F. HOAD. "deer." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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deer

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | | Copyright

deer sometimes taken as a type of swiftness. (See also doe, hart, stag.)
deerstalker a soft cloth cap, originally worn for hunting, with peaks in front and behind and ear flaps which can be tied together over the top. It is now typically associated with depictions of Sherlock Holmes.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "deer." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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deer

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

deer / dir/ • n. (pl. same) a hoofed grazing or browsing animal (family Cervidae), with branched bony antlers that are shed annually and typically borne only by the male.

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deer

A Dictionary of Zoology | 1999 | | Copyright

deer See CERVIDAE.
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "deer." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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deer

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

deer •adhere, Agadir, appear, arrear, auctioneer, austere, balladeer, bandolier, Bashkir, beer, besmear, bier, blear, bombardier, brigadier, buccaneer, cameleer, career, cashier, cavalier, chandelier, charioteer, cheer, chevalier, chiffonier, clavier, clear, Coetzee, cohere, commandeer, conventioneer, Cordelier, corsetière, Crimea, dear, deer, diarrhoea (US diarrhea), domineer, Dorothea, drear, ear, electioneer, emir, endear, engineer, fear, fleer, Freer, fusilier, gadgeteer, Galatea, gazetteer, gear, gondolier, gonorrhoea (US gonorrhea), Greer, grenadier, hear, here, Hosea, idea, interfere, Izmir, jeer, Judaea, Kashmir, Keir, kir, Korea, Lear, leer, Maria, marketeer, Medea, Meir, Melilla, mere, Mia, Mir, mishear, mountaineer, muleteer, musketeer, mutineer, near, orienteer, pamphleteer, panacea, paneer, peer, persevere, pier, Pierre, pioneer, pistoleer, privateer, profiteer, puppeteer, queer, racketeer, ratafia, rear, revere, rhea, rocketeer, Sapir, scrutineer, sear, seer, sere, severe, Shamir, shear, sheer, sincere, smear, sneer, sonneteer, souvenir, spear, sphere, steer, stere, summiteer, Tangier, tear, tier, Trier, Tyr, veer, veneer, Vere, Vermeer, vizier, volunteer, Wear, weir, we're, year, Zaïre

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Deer-crossing signs: Do drivers care?(NEWS)(Getting There)
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 11/16/2003
Deer herd stages incredible rebound; Mild winter weather, improved habitat...
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 9/12/1999
Deer Collisions Hit Close to Home Crashes at their Peak in October, November.
PR Newswire; 10/7/2005

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