'Venison' definitions:
Definition of 'venison'
From: WordNet
noun
Meat from a deer used as food
Definition of 'Venison'
From: GCIDE
- Venison \Ven"i*son\ (?; 277), n. [OE. veneison, veneson, venison, OF. veneison, F. venaison, L. venatio hunting, the chase, game, fr. venari, p. p. venatus, to hunt; perhaps akin to OHG. weidin[=o]n, weidenen, to pasture, to hunt, G. weide pasturage. Cf. Gain to acquire, Venation.]
- 1. Beasts of the chase. [Obs.] --Fabyan. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Formerly, the flesh of any of the edible beasts of the chase, also of game birds; now, the flesh of animals of the deer kind exclusively. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'venison'
From: GCIDE
- Deer \Deer\ (d[=e]r), n. sing. & pl. [OE. der, deor, animal, wild animal, AS. de['o]r; akin to D. dier, OFries. diar, G. thier, tier, Icel. d[=y]r, Dan. dyr, Sw. djur, Goth. dius; of unknown origin. [root]71.]
- 1. Any animal; especially, a wild animal. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- Mice and rats, and such small deer. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- The camel, that great deer. --Lindisfarne MS. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Zool.) A ruminant of the genus Cervus, of many species, and of related genera of the family Cervid[ae]. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison. [1913 Webster]
- Note: The deer hunted in England is Cervus elaphus, called also stag or red deer; the fallow deer is {Cervus dama}; the common American deer is {Cervus Virginianus}; the blacktailed deer of Western North America is Cervus Columbianus; and the mule deer of the same region is Cervus macrotis. See Axis, Fallow deer, Mule deer, Reindeer. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Deer is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, deerkiller, deerslayer, deerslaying, deer hunting, deer stealing, deerlike, etc. [1913 Webster]
- Deer mouse (Zool.), the white-footed mouse ({Peromyscus leucopus}, formerly Hesperomys leucopus) of America.
- Small deer, petty game, not worth pursuing; -- used metaphorically. (See citation from Shakespeare under the first definition, above.) "Minor critics . . . can find leisure for the chase of such small deer." --G. P. Marsh. [1913 Webster]