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

They analyzed 100 fecal samples from white-tailed deer from different regions of the U.S., of which half have chronic wasting disease and half do not.

From Science Daily • Feb. 12, 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

One of the big complaints around here is that the wolves will gobble up all the game, especially white-tailed deer, the main food source of Canis rufus.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 3, 2023

Then, after the park was created in 1936, thirteen white-tailed deer were introduced, and, with no one to hunt them and few predators, they thrived.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson