white-tailed deer

American  

[hwahyt-teyld, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˌteɪld, ˈwaɪt- /

Or whitetail deer

noun

1. a common North American deer, Odocoileus virginianus, having a tail with a white underside.

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white-tailed deer British  

noun

1. Also called: Virginia deer.  a deer, Odocoileus virginianus, of North America and N South America: the coat varies in colour, being typically reddish-brown in the summer, and the tail is white

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Etymology

Origin of white-tailed deer

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

Analyses of SARS‐CoV‑2 sequences in a database found two human infections in Massachusetts and one in North Carolina that appear to have come from white-tailed deer.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 29, 2024

Over the past century, white-tailed deer have greatly expanded their range in North America, explains Melanie Dickie, a doctoral student with UBC Okanagan's Wildlife Restoration Ecology Lab.

From Science Daily • Apr. 25, 2024

Instead, police found a white-tailed deer inside the store, roaming down the aisles as caught on body camera.

From Washington Times • Nov. 28, 2023

When Chip Hemphill is on a hunting trip with his friends, looking for white-tailed deer and hogs, he doesn’t typically find himself discussing who is second in line to the presidency.

From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2023

I was in and of beauty and at that precise moment a doe, a white-tailed deer, exploded out of some willows on the left side of the team, heading down the bank toward the lake.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen