venison
Americannoun
noun
-
the flesh of a deer, used as food
-
archaic the flesh of any game animal used for food
Etymology
Origin of venison
1250–1300; Middle English ven ( a ) ison < Old French veneison, venaison < Latin vēnātiōn (stem of vēnātiō hunting), equivalent to vēnāt ( us ) ( see venatic) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Bambi, beware. Venison is deer meat intended as food. Venison is derived from the medieval French word venesoun, which originally described the meat of any large animal, not just deer. Back then, venison was as common as a Big Mac today (rather than as the fairly classy meal it's considered today). In Britain, before 1066, when the French came over and conquered them, the Brits had pretty simple names for their meat: cow, pig, deer, etc. The French, with their high regard for cuisine, changed all that, and the names became beef, bacon, and venison. The British, though, despite the fancy new names, famously refused to take cooking as seriously as their new French rulers.
Vocabulary lists containing venison
My Side of the Mountain
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The Birchbark House
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Old Yeller
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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.
One of the night’s standout dishes was the venison tartare, topped with poached egg yolk and spruce tips and served with rye crackers.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2026
De Boer focuses on the kind of fare a traveler craves when coming in from the cold: venison and Sherry pie, spit-roasted duck, cups of warming bone broth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
The Country Food Trust is a food poverty charity that uses venison from deer shot on estates and farms to provide meals at 1,500 foodbanks, homeless shelters and community kitchens across the UK.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2026
The medallion of venison on my plate came from a deer shot by one of the restaurant’s waiters who spends summers as a ghillie, a hunting and fishing guide.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
But I dared not delay, lest the mastiff finish eating the venison bones and start to bark.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
