reindeer Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun Arctic deer with large antlers in both sexes; called `reindeer' in Eurasia and `caribou' in North America
Rangifer tarandus; caribou; Greenland caribou.

Icel. hreinn reindeer + E. deer. Icel. hreinn is of Lapp or Finnish origin; cf. Lappish reino pasturage.

(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. ✍ The common European species (R. tarandus) is domesticated in Lapland. The woodland reindeer or caribou (R. caribou) is found in Canada and Maine (see Caribou.) The Barren Ground reindeer or caribou (R. Groelandicus), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in both hemispheries.