Part 96

He sighed deeply in his spirit.

Mark viii. 12.

3. Very; with a tendency to darkness of color.

The deeply red juice of buckthorn berries.

Boyle.

4. Gravely; with low or deep tone; as, a deeply toned instrument.

5. With profound skill; with art or intricacy; as, a deeply laid plot or intrigue.

Deep"-mouthed` (?), a. Having a loud and sonorous voice. "Deep-mouthed dogs." Dryden.

Deep"ness, n. 1. The state or quality of being deep, profound, mysterious, secretive, etc.; depth; profundity; -- opposed to shallowness.

Because they had no deepness of earth.

Matt. xiii. 5.

2. Craft; insidiousness. [R.] J. Gregory.

Deep"-read` (?), a. Profoundly book- learned. "Great writers and deep-read men." L'Estrange.

Deep"-sea` (?), a. Of or pertaining to the deeper parts of the sea; as, a deep-sea line (i. e., a line to take soundings at a great depth); deep- sea lead; deep-sea soundings, explorations, etc.

Deep"-waist`ed (?), a. (Naut.) Having a deep waist, as when, in a ship, the poop and forecastle are much elevated above the deck.

Deer (dr), n. sing. & pl. [OE. der, deor, animal, wild animal, AS. deór; akin to D. dier, OFries. diar, G. thier, tier, Icel. dr, Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, Goth. dius; of unknown origin. √71.] 1. Any animal; especially, a wild animal. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Mice and rats, and such small deer.

Shak.

The camel, that great deer.

Lindisfarne MS.

2. (Zoöl.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervidæ. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison.

The deer hunted in England is Cervus elaphus, called also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is C. dama; the common American deer is C. Virginianus; the blacktailed deer of Western North America is C. Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is C. macrotis. See Axis, Fallow deer, Mule deer, Reindeer.

Deer is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, deerkiller, deerslayer, deerslaying, deer hunting, deer stealing, deerlike, etc.

Deer mouse (Zoöl.), the white- footed mouse (Hesperomys leucopus) of America. -- Small deer, petty game, not worth pursuing; -- used metaphorically. (See citation from Shakespeare under the first definition, above.) "Minor critics . . . can find leisure for the chase of such small deer." G. P. Marsh.

Deer"ber`ry (?), n. (Bot.) A shrub of the blueberry group (Vaccinium stamineum); also, its bitter, greenish white berry; -- called also squaw huckleberry.

Deer"grass` (?), n. (Bot.) An American genus (Rhexia) of perennial herbs, with opposite leaves, and showy flowers (usually bright purple), with four petals and eight stamens, -- the only genus of the order Melastomaceæ inhabiting a temperate clime.

Deer"hound` (?), n. (Zoöl.) One of a large and fleet breed of hounds used in hunting deer; a staghound.

Deer"let (?), n. [Deer + - let.] (Zoöl.) A chevrotain. See Kanchil, and Napu.