Deep-waisted
(Deep"-waist`ed) a. (Naut.) Having a deep waist, as when, in a ship, the poop and forecastle
are much elevated above the deck.
Deer
(Deer) n. sing. & pl. [OE. der, deor, animal, wild animal, AS. deór; akin to D. dier, OFries. diar,
G. thier, tier, Icel. dyr, Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, Goth. dius; of unknown origin. &radic71.]
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. (Zoöl.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervidæ.
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.
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.
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.) A shrub of the blueberry group (Vaccinium stamineum); also, its bitter,
greenish white berry; — called also squaw huckleberry.
Deergrass
(Deer"grass`) n. (Bot.) An American genus (Rhexia) of perennial herbs, with opposite leaves,
and showy flowers with four petals and eight stamens, — the only genus of the order Melastomaceæ
inhabiting a temperate clime.
Deerhound
(Deer"hound`) n. (Zoöl.) One of a large and fleet breed of hounds used in hunting deer; a
staghound.
Deerlet
(Deer"let) n. [Deer + - let.] (Zoöl.) A chevrotain. See Kanchil, and Napu.
Deer-neck
(Deer"-neck`) n. A deerlike, or thin, ill-formed neck, as of a horse.
Deerskin
(Deer"skin`) n. The skin of a deer, or the leather which is made from it. Hakluyt. Longfellow.
Deerstalker
(Deer"stalk`er) n. One who practices deerstalking.
Deerstalking
(Deer"stalk`ing), n. The hunting of deer on foot, by stealing upon them unawares.
Deer's-tongue
(Deer's"-tongue`) n. (Bot.) A plant (Liatris odoratissima) whose fleshy leaves give out a
fragrance compared to vanilla. Wood.
Dees
(Dees) n. pl. Dice. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Dees
(Dees), n. A dais. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Deesis
(||De*e"sis) n. [NL., fr. Gr. de`hsis supplication.] (Rhet.) An invocation of, or address to, the
Supreme Being.
