Hunting. ‘A start of the head of a young stag, growing sharp like the end of a spit’ (Bailey).

The knob or bud which forms the beginning of a deer's antler. Now chiefly North American.

One of the ‘buds’ or knobs at the top of a stag's horn.

plural. The soft tops of a deer's horns when they are coming through. Obsolete.

transferred. Used of things resembling buds: as the rudiment of a horn when it begins to sprout; a nipple; a pimple in farcy, a disease of horses.

A branch of a deer's antler; = broach, n.1 7. Obsolete.

? = croche, n.2

= button, n. 8. Obsolete.

(see sense 2; in quot. used allusively).

One of the terminal ‘buds’ or knobs on a stag's horn; = croche, n.2

A knob or bud showing on a stag's antler. Obsolete.

U.S. regional. An antler bud. Hence: a young male deer; (also more fully) nubbin buck.