Reindeer

Origin

From Middle English, from Old Norse hreindýri ("reindeer"), from hreinn + dýr ("animal").

Full definition of reindeer

Noun

1. An arctic and subarctic-dwelling deer of the species Rangifer tarandus, with a number of subspecies.
• 2013-03, Nancy Langston, Mining the Boreal North, Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.

Hyponyms

• caribou

Derived terms

• arctic reindeer
• Finnish forest reindeer
• mountain reindeer
• Siberian forest reindeer
• Siberian reindeer
• Svalbard reindeer
• wild reindeer