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Definition: reindeer from Collins English Dictionary

n pl -deer or -deers

1 a large deer, Rangifer tarandus, having large branched antlers in the male and female and inhabiting the arctic regions of Greenland, Europe, and Asia. It also occurs in North America, where it is known as a caribou

[C14: from Old Norse hreindӯri, from hreinn reindeer + dyr animal; related to Dutch rendier, German Rentier; see deer]


reindeer

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal, genus Rangifer , of the deer family, found in arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America. It is the only deer in which both sexes have antlers. The Eurasian reindeer, Rangifer tarandus , is a small deer, the male standing about 4 ft (120 cm) high at the shoulder and weighing about 250 lb (113 kg), but it is extremely strong and has great powers of endurance. A reindeer can travel 40 mi (64 km) a day, pulling twice its own weight on a sled. Reindeer have long fur, light brown in summer and whitish in winter, with dense woolly undercoats. The antlers are many pronged, with characteristically curved main stems that sweep back and up from the forehead, then turn forward. The hooves are broad and rounded and in winter become concave, providing a good grip on icy ground. Reindeer are gregarious and migratory; they travel hundreds of miles between their summer and winter grounds in herds of up to 200,000 animals. They feed on a variety of plant matter, …
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Full text Article reindeer

From Philip's Encyclopedia
Always found in herds, reindeer (Rangifer...
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Full text Article reindeer

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
ruminant mammal, genus Rangifer , of the deer family, found in arctic and subarctic regions of Eurasia and North America. It is the only deer in which both sexes have antlers. The Eurasian reindeer, Rangifer tarandus , is a small deer, the male standing about 4 ft (120 cm) high at the shoulder and…
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Full text Article reindeer

From The Oxford Companion to Food
Rangifer tarandus , a large deer inhabiting the northern regions of Europe and Asia, especially well known as a food in Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The meat from a reindeer, which is better than that from its close relation the caribou , is cooked and eaten in many ways (roasts, stews, etc.) in the…
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Full text Article reindeer

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
A large deer (Rangifer tarandus) of the Arctic tundra and northern boreal forests, having large hooves and long branched antlers in both sexes, and widely domesticated in Eurasia. Subspecies native to North America and Greenland are usually called caribou. [Middle English reindere : Old Norse…
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Full text Article reindeer

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Deer Rangifer tarandus of Arctic and subarctic regions, common to North America and Eurasia. About 1.2 m/4 ft at the shoulder, it has a thick, brownish coat and broad hooves well adapted to travel over snow. It is the only deer in which both sexes have antlers; these can grow to 1.5 m/5 ft long, and…
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Full text Article Olive, the Other Reindeer

From The Christmas Encyclopedia
Popular children's book written by American authors J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh, published in 1997. It is a loose parody of the song “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Johnny Marks. Hearing “Rudolph” sung on the radio, the little dog Olive mistakes the phrase “All of the other reindeer…” as…
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(Character). Highly popular character created in 1939 by Robert Lewis May (1905-1976), an advertising copywriter born in New Rochelle, New York, and immortalized in “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a song written by May's brother-in-law, New York City songwriter John D. (Johnny) Marks (1909-1985). …
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(Song). Highly popular song written by New York City songwriter John D. (Johnny) Marks, based on a story of the same title by his brother-in-law, Robert L. May. Although Marks composed his song about Rudolph in 1947, numerous music publishers rejected it on the notion that a song about a misfit…
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(Television special, 1964). Animated story using stop-motion puppets (Animagic), loosely based on the 1949 hit tune of the same title by Johnny Marks; also remade in 1998 as Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie. The television special premiered on the General Electric Fantasy Hour in December…
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(Television special, 2000). Animated cartoon, based on the popular song by Randy Brooks. When Grandma Spankenheimer refuses to sell her shop to a wealthy land developer, her greedy granddaughter, Cousin Mel, plots to take over the shop and spikes Grandma's famous fruitcakes with a special brew. As…
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