REINDEER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Reindeer

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/rˈeɪndˌɪr/ Listen

noun

Reindeer n. (Formerly written also raindeer, and ranedeer) (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. Note: The common European species (Rangifer tarandus) is domesticated in Lapland. The woodland reindeer or caribou (Rangifer caribou) is found in Canada and Maine (see Caribou.) The Barren Ground reindeer or caribou (Rangifer Groenlandicus), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in both hemispheries.

Reindeer moss (Bot.), a gray branching lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) which forms extensive patches on the ground in arctic and even in north temperature regions. It is the principal food of the Lapland reindeer in winter.

Reindeer period (Geol.), a name sometimes given to a part of the Paleolithic era when the reindeer was common over Central Europe.

See images of 'Reindeer'

Etymology of 'Reindeer'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Reindeer" Quotes from Famous Books

... already been peopled! The majestic rusa, captured in the sultry forests of Bengal, and the elegant gazelle, which has once bounded over the parching deserts of Barbary, have become intimate and make their couch with the white reindeer, brought from the icy wastes of Lapland. The misshapen but harmless kangaroo of New Holland is a fellow-lodger with the ferocious gnu of Southern Africa; and the patient llama, who has left the snowy sides and precipitous defiles of the Andes, contemplates without terror its formidable neighbours, ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 19, - Issue 552, June 16, 1832 • Various

... dark Pine in Lapland, And the great, figured Horn of the Reindeer, Moving soundlessly across the snow, Is its twin brother, double-dreamed, In the ...

— Georgian Poetry 1918-19 • Various

... assure the doubter that there is still amongst us a taste for the beautiful. "I live inland now, far from the smell of salt water and the sight of sails. Yet sometimes there comes over me a longing for the sea as irresistible as the lust for salt which stampedes the reindeer of the north. I must gaze on the unbroken world-rim, I must feel the sting of spray, I must hear the rhythmic crash and roar of breakers and watch the sea-weed rise and fall where the green waves lift against the rocks. Once in so often I must ride those waves with cleated sheet and tugging ...

— Modern American Prose Selections • Various

... my former boss, Lew Simpson, was busily organizing a "lightning bull team" for his employers, Russell, Majors & Waddell. Albert Sidney Johnston's soldiers, then moving West, needed supplies, and needed them in a hurry. Thus far the mule was the reindeer of draft animals, and mule trains were forming to hurry the ...

— An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill (Colonel W. F. Cody) • Buffalo Bill (William Frederick Cody)

... "be a good boy, Willie," And it's "run away and play, For Santa Claus is coming With his reindeer and his sleigh." It's "mind what mother tells you," And it's "put away your toys, For Santa Claus is coming To the good girls and the boys." Ho, Santa Claus is coming, there is Christmas in the air, And little girls and little boys are ...

— Just Folks • Edgar A. Guest

More quotes...