reindeern.
/ˈreɪndɪə/, U.S. /ˈreɪnˌdɪ(ə)r/ 1. A widespread northern deer, Rangifer tarandus, both sexes of which have large branching antlers, occurring in herds in the tundra and taiga of subarctic Eurasia and North America.Most Eurasian reindeer are domesticated and are used for drawing sledges and as a source of milk, flesh, and hides. In North America reindeer are called caribou.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > genus Rangifer (reindeer)
reindeerc1440
rein1555
tarand1572
buff1607
caribou1609
maccarib1672
bucka1674
woodland caribou1854
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 922 (MED) The roo and þe rayne-dere reklesse thare ronnen.
c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) 3728 (MED) She bad..To chase at hem..At reyndere and the dredful roo.
a1500 (a1400) Ipomedon (Chetham) (1889) 3029 (MED) Syr, I love huntyng At rayne-dere and at roos.
a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Trial of Fox l. 897 in Poems (1981) 38 The rayndeir ran throw reueir, rone, and reid.
1572 J. Bossewell Wks. Armorie ii. f. 57 Tarandrus is a beaste in bodye like a great Oxe... Of some hee is taken to bee a rayne deare.
1605 J. Rosier True Relation Voy. George Waymouth (1932) 392 They shew..how they make butter and cheese of the milke they have of the Rain-Deere and Fallo-Deere, which they have tame as we have Cowes.
1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan ii. v. 76 A third sorte of deare, lesse then the other, (which are a kinde of rayne deare).
?c1663 B. Whitelocke Diary (1990) 333 Grave Gab[riel] Oxenstierne..brought..a Laplander & his sled drawn by a Rayne Deer.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 406. ⁋4 A Song..addressed by the Lover to his Rain-deer, which is the Creature that in that Country supplies the Want of Horses.
1744 A. Dobbs Acct. Countries adjoining Hudson's Bay 47 The Country being mostly rocky, and covered with a white Moss upon which the Rain-Deer or Cariboux feed.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 149 Of all animals of the deer kind, the Rein-Deer is the most extraordinary and the most useful.
1806 S. Fraser Lett. & Jrnls. (1960) 188 La Malice killed a Rein Deer that was crossing the River.
1835 J. Ross Narr. Second Voy. North-west Passage xvi. 252 The reindeer all came this way in April.
1863 C. Lyell Geol. Evid. Antiq. Man 14 With these are mingled bones of the red deer and roe, but the rein-deer has not yet been found.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 4/2 This peculiarity of ‘snow-feet’ is not so well marked as in the reindeer or caribou.
1930 W. M. Mann Wild Animals in & out of Zoo xv. 185 The only thoroughly domesticated deer is the celebrated reindeer.
1993 Arctic Circle (Iqaluit, N.W.T.) Winter 30/3 Reindeer run free through the forest, fells and peatland of northern Finland for much of the season.
2006 C. Stringer Homo Britannicus vi. 218 (caption) This bone spear-thrower from Bruniquel Cave, France,..is beautifully carved with depictions of reindeer.
2. Heraldry. This animal represented as a stag with double attires (attire n. 5), one pair of which may be turned down.
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c1460 Bk. Arms in Ancestor (1902) Oct. 208 (MED) Sylver iij rayndere hedys all of sabyll.
1780 J. Edmondson Compl. Body Heraldry II. (Gloss.) Rein-Deer, as drawn in armory, is a stag with double attires, two of them turning down.
1863 C. Boutell Man. Heraldry xi. 64 A Reindeer, in Heraldry, is represented as a stag with double attires.
1928 Notes & Queries 1 Sept. 160/1 This branch bore fore their crest, A reindeer statant, to distinguish them from the main branch who bore the deer's head couped.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
reindeer hair n.
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1780 W. Coxe Acct. Russ. Discov. i. xiii. 70 Thread made from sinews and reindeer hair, which they get from the country of Alaska.
1896 Lloyd's Nat. Hist. 81 The nest is loosely made of dry grass and stalks, and the inside..is lined with willow-down or reindeer-hair.
1999 New Yorker 23 Aug. 194 The solutions devised by Archer were wonderfully ingenious, involving everything from linoleum panels on the walls of the cabins to reindeer-hair stuffing in the hollows of the ceiling.
reindeer horn n.
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1504 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1900) II. 467 The kingis gret rane deir horne.
1800 W. Tooke View Russ. Empire (ed. 2) III. 531 Exports in 1799..Reindeer horns..69.
1857 Ld. Dufferin Lett. from High Latitudes (ed. 3) 258 Out of reindeer horns are made almost all the utensils used in his domestic economy.
1993 W. Weaver tr. U. Eco Misreadings 19 A people who lived in idle bliss, gorging on seal pie and strumming reindeer-horn harps.
reindeer meat n.
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1789 tr. S. Pallas in J. Trusler Habitable World Described IV. 12 The father-in-law loads him and his company with reindeer-meat, and..the young man and the bride's father sing to each other.
1811 J. E. Smith tr. C. Linnaeus Lachesis Lapponica II. 259 We had still five or six miles to go to the nearest Laplander, and that if we had a mind for any rein-deer meat, we ought to bestir ourselves quickly.
1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 5 Jan. 2/4 Reindeer meat was the principal attraction on the menu.
2005 T. Hall Salaam Brick Lane iv. 71 And one of the local Bangladeshi butchers stocked up on halal turkeys and reindeer meat, which the proprietor seemed to believe was seasonal Christian fare.
reindeer milk n.
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1704 tr. J. Scheffer Hist. Lapland xviii. 228 They have also another way of preserving it with the Whey of Reindeer Milk.
1805 R. Heber Jrnl. 28 Aug. in A. Heber Life R. Heber (1830) I. ii. 75 The family received us very hospitably, and gave us reindeer cheese and milk.
1923 Geogr. Rev. 13 224 Use of reindeer milk and method of milking were evidently learned by the Lapps from the Scandinavians.
2000 I. Waddington Sport , Health & Drugs viii. 147 Viren vigorously denied the suggestion, saying that he drank only reindeer milk.
reindeer skin n.
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1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. I. 446 Their winter dress is made of rein-deer skin with the hairy side outwards.
1856 Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. 4 146 The furred robe which the women wear in winter is called parka: it is made with reindeer-skin, and has the form of a long shirt.
1933 J. Buchan Prince of Captivity iii. 106 Their reindeer-skin kamiks had been worn into holes.
1998 National Geographic Mar. 125 (caption) Nenets' nomad culture includes the assembly and disassembly of the family chum, a tent made of larch poles and reindeer skins.
reindeer steak n.
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1827 D. Douglas Jrnl. 9 May (1914) 264 A dinner of reindeer steaks was prepared.
1973 D. Francis Slay-ride v. 67 She gave us reindeer steaks in a rich dark sauce.
1998 S. Armitage All Points North (1999) 206 Mum thought that twenty quid for a reindeer steak and baked Alaska was ‘a bit on the pricey side’, so we've brought sandwiches and a thermos.
C2.
reindeer fly n. now rare = reindeer warble fly n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Cyclorrhapha > family Oestridae > genus Oestrum or Oestrus > unspecified > that attacks reindeer
reindeer fly1759
1759 B. Stillingfleet tr. C. Gedner Of Use of Curiosity in Misc. Tracts Nat. Hist. 132 Our president was gathering, and describing the rein-deer-fly on the Lapland mountains.
1830 J. Rennie Insect Archit. (ed. 2) xx. 406 In the strictly similar instance of reindeer fly.., we have the high authority of Linnæus for the fact, that it lays its eggs upon the skin.
1934 Sci. Monthly Dec. 501/1 Apparently the reindeer fly was introduced into Alaska by the importation of reindeer from northern Europe.
reindeer lichen n. = reindeer moss n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > lichen > [noun] > reindeer lichen
coralline moss1598
reindeer moss1753
reindeer lichen1770
rein-liverwort1771
1770 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 11 July (1792) I. 8 They [sc. caribou] find there many extensive tracts of land destitute of wood, and covered with plenty of Reindeer Lichen.
1836 Edinb. Rev. July 297 Owing to the mildness of the season, and the abundance of the reindeer lichen on which they feed, they remained at a distance in the barren lands.
1926 F.E. Buechel Commerce of Agric. ii. iv. 85 The foliose lichen in turn paves the way for the next higher forms of plants, which may be the fructicose lichen association (such as the reindeer lichen).
2007 Canad. Geographic July 45/1 Delicate coral-like shoots of sieve cup lichen and grey reindeer lichen cushion our steps.
reindeer moss n. [after Swedish renmossa (1615; compare quot. 1753)] any of several fruticose lichens of the genus Cladonia that serve as the chief winter food of reindeer or caribou; esp. C. rangiferina, an extremely cold-tolerant species found primarily in rocky alpine areas.
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the world > plants > particular plants > lichen > [noun] > reindeer lichen
coralline moss1598
reindeer moss1753
reindeer lichen1770
rein-liverwort1771
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Reen mossa, a name used by some for the mountain coralloids, or rein deer moss.
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 333 The Rein Deer Moss, which forms the winter food of that animal.
1895 Outing 27 16/2 In sheltered places there are surprising growths of reindeer moss.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1097 Another useful lichen, Cladonia rangiferina, is the so-called reindeer moss, one of the dominant plants of the northern tundras, and as important grazing for flocks of reindeer as is grass for our cattle.
1991 New Scientist 5 Oct. 14/3 According to the report, reindeer moss, the staple diet of herds of reindeer on the peninsula, has completely disappeared, putting the future of the herds at risk.
reindeer period n. [after either French âge du renne (É. Lartet 1861, in Annales des sciences naturelles 15 231) or époque du renne (1864 (in another work by É. Lartet) or earlier)] a loosely-defined period during the Upper Palaeolithic of western Europe, characterized by peoples who lived by hunting reindeer.
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1864 Times 25 Mar. 10/5 These specimens are regarded by M. Lartet as being the earliest known examples of engraving on stone, by primeval man, of the reindeer period in Europe.
1870 Nature 20 Jan. 318/2 No trace of man's existence during the reindeer-period has been ascertained in North Germany.
1881 J. Geikie Prehist. Europe 101 M. Dupont recognises two stages in the Palæolithic Period, one of which is called the Mammoth period, and the other, which is the more recent, the Reindeer period.
1925 G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man i. ii. 45 The cave-drawings attributed to the neolithic men of the reindeer period.
1995 Amer. Anthropologist 97 458/2 In 1861 Lartet proposed a paleontological division of the Quaternary into the Cave Bear period, the Elephant and Rhinoceros period, and the Reindeer period.
reindeer tongue n. the tongue of a reindeer, usually smoked, considered as a delicacy.
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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > flesh of other animals > [noun] > reindeer tongue
reindeer tongue1788
1788 Times 1 Jan. 4/3 (advt.) Smoaked Salmon and Dutch Herring, Fine New French Olives, and New Rein Deer Tongues.
1857 J. H. Walsh Econ. Housekeeper ii. iii. 32 Reindeer Tongues, Pork Pies, and a whole host of similar commodities, are sold at the ‘sausage shops’ in London.
1935 ‘Countess Morphy’ Recipes All Nations 499 Reindeer are eaten in Norway, and smoked reindeer tongues are considered a great delicacy.
1995 National Geographic Traveler July–Aug. 69/1 Try..smoked moose and reindeer tongue; traditional sour cream porridge for dessert.
reindeer tribe n. a people which lives by herding or hunting reindeer; spec. any of certain prehistoric tribes inhabiting France and Belgium.
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a1843 J. Evans in Sc. Congregational Mag. (1843) Feb. 92 I saw two Indian graves neatly roofed with birch-hark, and the totem, or family name, marked thereon with charcoal in several places, they having belonged to the Rein-Deer tribe.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind i. 2 The Reindeer tribes of Central France.
1936 Geogr. Jrnl. 88 16 The interior can never be utilized as reindeer pasture except by nomadic reindeer tribes.
1992 D. Bennett in J. W. Evans Horse Breeding & Managem. ii. 52 They, and the existing reindeer tribes, both know how to harmlessly bleed a long-necked mammal from the jugular vein to obtain food.
reindeer warble fly n. a large warble fly, Hypoderma (or Oedemagena) tarandi, which infests reindeer.
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1890 J. A. Lintner 6th Rep. Injurious & Other Insects State N.Y. Index 200/1 Reindeer warble-fly.
1969 Trans. Royal Soc. Trop. Med. & Hygiene 63 20 (title) The reindeer warble fly, Oedemagena tarandi.
2004 J. F. Day et al. in B. F. Eldridge & J. D. Edman Med. Entomol. (rev. ed.) iv. 142/2 The caribou, or reindeer, warble fly, Hypoderma tarandi, is distributed widely over the range of its host.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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