roe deer

a small, agile Old World deer, Capreolus capreolus, the male of which has three-pointed antlers.

Also called roe.

Origin of roe deer

before 1000; Old English rāhdēor (not recorded in ME)

rodney, rodomontade, rodrigo, rodzinski, roe, roe deer, roe versus wade, roebling, roebuck, roeg, roemer

Wilhelm Bischoff of Munich: works on the history of the development of the rabbit, dog, guinea-pig, roe-deer.

The Last Link |Ernst Haeckel
There are from 60-100 in the cow and sheep, but only about five or six in the Roe-deer.

The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume III (of 4) |Francis Maitland Balfour
He tamed leverets and partridges, and little birds, and hares, and roe-deer.

The Cloister and the Hearth |Charles Reade
All other animals of the deer kind are inconstant in their amours, but the roe-deer never forsake each other.

Buffon's Natural History. Volume VI (of 10) |Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

Possibly the increase of rabbits has tended to reduce the number of roe-deer, by diminishing their food supply.

Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire |John H. Dixon, F.S.A. Scot

roe deer

a small graceful deer, Capreolus capreolus, of woodlands of Europe and Asia. The antlers are small and the summer coat is reddish-brown