stag
Americannoun
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an adult male deer.
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a man who attends a social gathering unaccompanied by a woman.
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Informal. stag party.
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a domesticated boar or bull castrated after maturation of the sexual organs.
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British. a speculator who buys securities of a new issue in the hope of selling them quickly at a higher price.
verb (used without object)
adjective
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of or for men only.
a stag dinner.
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intended for male audiences and usually pornographic in content.
a stag show.
adverb
noun
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the adult male of a deer, esp a red deer
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a man unaccompanied by a woman at a social gathering
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stock exchange
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a speculator who applies for shares in a new issue in anticipation of a rise in price when trading commences in order to make a quick profit on resale
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( as modifier )
stag operations
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(modifier) (of a social gathering) attended by men only
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(modifier) pornographic in content
a stag show
adverb
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of stag
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English stagge; akin to Old Norse steggi, steggr “male bird” (giving rise to northern English dialect steg “gander”), Icelandic steggur “male fox, tomcat”
Explanation
A stag is another word for a buck, or a male deer. If you spot a family of deer in the woods, the stag is the one with the largest antlers. There are different terms for male deer, depending on the species, and stag usually describes the largest types of deer. Stags are also commonly seen in paintings of deer hunts. Another way to use the word stag is as a verb meaning "go without a date," especially to a formal party or dance. In the mid-1800's, a "stag party" was a group made up only of men, a term that came to mean a bachelor party.
Vocabulary lists containing stag
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Featuring a 12-point stag on a Scottish Highland peak, it was commissioned by railway magnate Edward Betts and has passed through various private collections.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
The stag, who was eight years old, was one of two in the herd.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
The killing of the stag is also under investigation by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
Then, while out for my brother's stag do in a Liverpool nightclub, something happened that I haven't been able to forget since.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2025
It’s a stag—a white stag, standing not ten feet from where I am.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Most of our pets don’t pull carts, hunt stags, herd sheep or detect drugs, where we need to ensure correct performance.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 27, 2023
Together, they gambol like the stags in the poem.
From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2022
Stags with big antlers score more often than stags with small ones.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2022
“I just kind of see it as two stags locking up in the forest,” Cole said.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2022
There are four stags who graze on the huge branches of the world-tree, devouring the foliage and the bark.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
The tight driver's shoe and "stagged" trousers had not then come into use.
From The Riverman by White, Stewart Edward
But month after month went by, an' th' brass kept gettin' less, do what we would; an' th' times geet wur, till at last we fund ersels fair stagged up.
From Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine by Waugh, Edwin
A number of loggers were present, dressed in the invariable mackinaw, stagged overalls and caulked shoes.
From The Centralia Conspiracy by Chaplin, Ralph
Cadets who "stagged" it were expected to stand.
From Dick Prescott's First Year at West Point by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
He is stagged; there is a game playing, but what I know not.
From Count Alarcos; a Tragedy by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
Ltd. $20,000,000, and there was said to be "hardly any stagging."
From Time Magazine Archive
A young stripling or two may drop in, stagging it.
From Blue Ridge Country by Caldwell, Erskine
The cove was touting, but stagging the traps he toddled; be was looking out, and feeing the officers he walked away.
From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Grose, Francis
"I should cut the concern," said Watson, "and take to stagging in Surrey."
From Marion Fay by Trollope, Anthony
But too many of the cadets were "stagging it" that night.
From Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point Finding the Glory of the Soldier's Life by Hancock, H. Irving (Harrie Irving)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
