Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A large deer (Rangifer tarandus) of the Arctic and northern regions of Eurasia and North America, having branched antlers in both sexes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A deer of the genus Rangifer or Tarandus, having horns in both sexes, and inhabiting arctic and cold temperate regions; the Cervus tarandus, Rangifer tarandus, or Tarandus rangifer. It has branched, recurved, round antlers, the crowns of which are more or less palmated; the antlers of the male are much larger than those of the female, and are remarkable for the size and asymmetry of the brow-antler. The body is of a thick and square form, and the legs are shorter in proportion than those of the red-deer. The size varies much according to climate: about 4 feet 6 inches may be given as the average height of a full-grown specimen. The reindeer is keen of sight and swift of foot being capable of maintaining a speed of 9 or 10 miles an hour for a long time, and can easily draw a weight of 200 pounds, besides the sledge to which it is usually attached when used as a beast of draft. Among the Laplanders the reindeer is a substitute for the horse, the cow, and the sheep, as it furnishes food, clothing, and the means of conveyance. The caribou of North America, if not absolutely identical with the reindeer, would seem to be at least a well-marked variety, usually called
R. caribou . The American barrenground reindeer has been described as a different species, R. grœnlandicus. See also cut undercaribou . - n. In heraldry, a stag having two sets of antlers, the one pair bending downward, and the other standing erect.
Wiktionary
- n. zoology An Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer with a number of subspecies. The North American subspecies are known as caribou.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zool.) Any ruminant of the genus Rangifer, of the Deer family, found in the colder parts of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and having long irregularly branched antlers, with the brow tines palmate.
WordNet 3.0
- n. Arctic deer with large antlers in both sexes; called `reindeer' in Eurasia and `caribou' in North America
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old Norse hreindýri ("reindeer"), from hreinn + dýr ("animal"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English reindere : Old Norse hreinn, reindeer, + Middle English der, animal; see deer. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A pair of boxer shorts bedecked with cartoon reindeer is code for "We don't have sex anymore and this represents my tacit acceptance of that fact.”
Una LaMarche: Passive-Aggressive Holiday Gifts For Everyone On Your Naughty List
“Towards the satisfaction of these demands, the reindeer is a demonstrated success in Alaska.”
“I have bearded and bitten the frozen seas, and, aforetime of that, ere ever the ice-ages came to be, I have dripped my shoulders in reindeer gore, slain the mastodon and the sabre-tooth, scratched the record of my prowess on the walls of deep-buried caves -- ay, and suckled she-wolves side by side with my brother-cubs, the scars of whose fangs are now upon me.”
“Better than reindeer is moose (or ‘elk’ as they call it in Europe).”
“I did a post for the Internet Food Association revealing several facts about reindeer including the fact that (a) reindeer is a real animal, (b) reindeer is delicious, and (c) reindeer is called “Caribou” in North America.”
“The scene moves to Santa's stables where the "A-team" of reindeer is having its annual pre-flight party, which involves copious amounts of eggnog and a game of Poker.”
“It turns out that the only difference between caribou and reindeer is that caribou are outside the fence and reindeer are inside.”
““Yeah, but at least one other reindeer is denser.””
“There could be a considerable expansion in reindeer herding.”
“I have bearded and bitten the frozen seas, and, aforetime of that, ere ever the ice-ages came to be, I have dripped my shoulders in reindeer gore, slain the mastodon and the sabre-tooth, scratched the record of my prowess on the walls of deep-buried caves -- ay, and suckled she - wolves side by side with my brother-cubs, the scars of whose fangs are now upon me.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘reindeer’.
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SCIE - EU nomenclature
All the scientific words found in the official EU nomenclature. For the screening I used Vocabgrabber of the Visual Thesaurus.
abdominal, absorbent, accelerator, accumulator, acebutolol, acetamide, acetanilide, acetate, acetic acid, acetone, acetous, acetyl and 1171 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Deer
family Cervidae
45 specieswater chevrotain, alpine musk deer, Reeves' muntjac, Indian spotted ch..., fallow deer, axis deer, sambar, mule deer, white-tailed deer, marsh deer, Pere David's deer, red deer and 68 more...
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Do-it-yourself Christmas Carol List
Tired of singing the same carols year after year? Wanna mix it up a little? Now you can, with the Do-it-yourself Christmas Carol List (from the creator of the Doo-it-yourself Doowop List). Just mix...
let it, reindeer, silent, child, Christmas, got run over by a, mercy mild, winter, joyful, holly, newborn, king and 59 more...
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Breaking free from "I before E"
Words that have an I after an E after a letter that's not C.
sheik, seize, weird, foreign, caffeine, apartheid, deity, heifer, leisure, being, either, height and 30 more...
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the most beautiful
velvet, wainwright, susurrous, nutmeg, pegasus, tintinnabular, gossamer, lyricism, rococo, townlet, prince, nymph and 139 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 351 more...
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Animals With Nifty Names
hamster, gerbil, ferret, horse, skink, newt, shark, octopus, weasel, panda, giraffe, hyena and 129 more...
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Winter Solstice
Words that have something to do with the holidays that fall on or near the Winter Solstice
Yule, Yule-log, holly, yew, bay, bay-leaf, bayberry, Holly King, Oak King, mistletoe, Christmas tree, star in the East and 150 more...
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cucchiaio's Words
ambidextrous, octogenarian, unanimous, semaphore, luminous, indigenous, epistemological, ravenous, receptacle, petrify, rectify, lepidopterologist and 104 more...
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animals with their own paper
A few small paper companies around the world (Wales, Tasmania, etc) make specialty papers from dung. This list includes animals that have an established product line. As far as I know, no bilby poo...
elephant, bison, sheep, kangaroo, panda, wombat, reindeer, giraffe, zebra, rhinoceros, camel, moose and 3 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (R)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
rabicano, raceme, radiant, raggedy ann, rain, rambling rose, ramparts, rampion, rapacious, rapier, rapine, rarebit and 66 more...
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zoology
animals of interest
sloth, kakapo, kaka, hoatzin, numbat, wombat, hyena, wallaby, emu, morepork, jackdaw, magpie and 73 more...
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Beastiary
leviathan, behemoth, serpent, sugar glider, devon rex, reindeer, camel, raptor, mollusc, octopus, squid, pachyderm and 3 more...
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In Excelsis Deo
All those words (or distinctive phrases) you only hear at a certain time of year...
Hey! This is my 100th list!adeste fideles, merry, jolly, elf, carol, caroling, eggnog, bethlehem, magi, frankincense, myrrh, deck the halls and 81 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for reindeer.

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