stag
Americannoun
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stags
plural
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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:
Visitors to London's Royal Parks are being reminded that it is illegal , externalto feed the wild deer after a man was injured by a stag that approached his picnic group.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
According to reports, the mother and son were in the woods collecting antlers during the stag shedding season.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
"He was a lovely stag with a beautiful pair of antlers and was a big favourite with the public who walk through the park."
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
Life at the St. George Reef Lighthouse — a so-called stag station where no women or children were allowed — was brutal and lonely.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2025
“But the dogs will tire before the stag does, so we place additional relays of dogs along the trail to take over when the others are winded.”
From "Ash" by Malinda Lo
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
“Usually 1,300 to 1,400 stags every year,” Jack replies.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2023
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
Maybe he and his master would run together as stags, or fly to Re Albi over the mountain on the wings of eagles.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Why I mean, my lord, I stagged him."
He clambered laboriously from the shallows, the water draining from the bottom of his "stagged" trousers.
From The Rules of the Game by Stewart Edward White
Well; we coom back through t' teawn; an' we were both on us fair stagged up.
From Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine by Edwin Waugh
A number of loggers were present, dressed in the invariable mackinaw, stagged overalls and caulked shoes.
From The Centralia Conspiracy by Ralph Chaplin
But, howsomdever, the farmer came wi 'um, and a waundy big dog that stagged me, and barked like fury.
From Olla Podrida by Frederick Marryat
Ltd. $20,000,000, and there was said to be "hardly any stagging."
From Time Magazine Archive
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 H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock
So you've been stagging this gentleman and me, and listening, have you?
From Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley
"I should cut the concern," said Watson, "and take to stagging in Surrey."
From Marion Fay by Anthony Trollope
A young stripling or two may drop in, stagging it.
From Blue Ridge Country by Erskine Caldwell
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.
