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 (Zoöl.), 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.
DEERBERRY
Deer"ber`ry, n. (Bot.)
Defn: A shrub of the blueberry group (Vaccinium stamineum); also, its bitter, greenish white berry; — called also squaw huckleberry.
DEERGRASS
Deer"grass`, n. (Bot.)
Defn: An American genus (Rhexia) of perennial herbs, with opposite leaves, and showy flowers (usually bright purple), with four petals and eight stamens, — the only genus of the order Melastomaceæ inhabiting a temperate clime.
DEERHOUND
Deer"hound`, n. (Zoöl.)
Defn: One of a large and fleet breed of hounds used in hunting deer; a staghound.
DEERLET
Deer"let, n. Etym: [Deer + -let.] (Zoöl.)
Defn: A chevrotain. See Kanchil, and Napu.