The Collaborative International Dictionary
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]7
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] 1. Any animal; especially, a wild animal. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.Mice and rats, and such small deer.
--Shak.The camel, that great deer.
--Lindisfarne MS. -
(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 Cervus dama; the common American deer is Cervus Virginianus; the blacktailed deer of Western North America is Cervus Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is Cervus 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 ( Peromyscus leucopus, formerly 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.
Usage examples of "small deer".
About twenty minutes later he went on back down with Lou and what looked like a pretty damn small deer.
He subsisted mainly on hares, rabbits, large squirrels, and other rodents, but could bring down a small deer if he felt so inclined.
They were mostly from small animals, perhaps pigs or small deer, but even that stirred a vague envy.
Just after crossing the river, Call had shot a small deer--meat for a day or two at least.
A herd of small deer looked at him, then fled in panic through the tall grass.
And thereafter, when our school's students performed in public, at festival ceremonies in the island's pyramid plaza, my only contribution to the music and dancing was to beat a turtleshell drum with a pair of small deer antlers or to click a pair of crab claws in each hand.
As twilight deepened, they could make out an occasional small deer and a number of other animals much like muskrats, marmots, and other woodland creatures.
When the false king in the Palace of Golden Bells heard these words, he was so startled that his heart fluttered like the heart of a small deer.
Local taxidermists were so skilled at grafting small deer horns onto the heads of stuffed jackrabbits that many visitors, including Flor Garrett, believed the mutant existed.
About fifteen yards from me, right at the limit of my vision, was a small deer, a spike buck as nearly as I could tell from the shape of his head.