deer

1. any ruminant artiodactyl mammal of the family Cervidae, including reindeer, elk, muntjacs, and roe deer, typically having antlers in the male

2. (in N Canada) another name for caribou

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

What does it mean when you dream about deer?

The deer, as one of the most widely hunted species in North America, is naturally associated with hunting. It also symbolizes grace and gentleness (“gentle as a deer”). In folklore deer are messengers of fairies, which may give them a symbolic role in dreams as messengers of the unconscious.

deer

[dir]

(vertebrate zoology)

The common name for 41 species of even-toed ungulates that compose the family Cervidae in the order Artiodactyla; males have antlers.

Deer

(dreams)

As like with most other animals, the deer in your dream may represent some aspect of your intuition or it may be a message from your unconscious. In some parts of Asia, deer are considered to be conductors of soul and thus the robes of shamans are usually made out of deerskin. The Indians of North and South America also gave deer a spiritually important role. They believed that the souls of men passed into deer at the time of death. They also believed that a dying deer was a negative omen, which usually represented droughts that in turn foretold of very difficult times ahead. In the modern world, we generally see deer as gentle forest animals. Deer are characters in children’s stories and Santa Claus uses them to bring gifts to all. Thus, the deer in your dream may be a symbol of gentle and helpful parts of your psyche. In order to understand the message of the dream, think about what situation in your life would benefit from gentleness and soulfulness?

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References in classic literature

Big words never killed so much as a mouse--least of all yon deer which has got away while you were filling all the woods with your noisy breath.

let us after the deer of which I spoiled your stalking."

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“But if there’s a law about it at all, though who ever heard of a law that a man shouldn’t kill deer where he pleased!—but if there is a law at all, it should be to keep people from the use of smooth-bores.

“But this will buy you many deer,” said the Judge; “take it, I entreat you;” and, lowering his voice to a whisper, he added, “It is for a hundred dollars.”

At each movement he made his body lowered several inches, his knees yielding with an inclination inward; but, as the sleigh turned at a bend in the road, the youth cast his eyes in quest of his old companion, and he saw that he was already nearly concealed by the trunks of the tree; while his dogs were following quietly in his footsteps, occasionally scenting the deer track, that they seemed to know instinctively was now of no further use to them.

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The peculiar note in the roar of his hereditary enemy aroused a desire to investigate, and so, throwing the carcass of Bara, the deer, across his shoulder, the ape-man took to the lower terraces of the forest and moved quickly in the direction from which the sound had come, which was in line with the trail he had set out upon.

For the third time Numa, the lion, uttered that low pleading whine and then, with a rueful and disgusted shake of his head, Tarzan of the Apes raised the balance of the carcass of Bara, the deer, and hurled it to the famished beast below.

Presently he would shed tears because he has killed Bara, the deer. He cannot see Numa, his enemy, go hungry, because Tarzan's heart is turning to water by contact with the soft, weak creatures of civilization." But yet he smiled, nor was he sorry that he had given way to the dictates of a kindly impulse.

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"We are under one Law, indeed," said Bagheera, wading into the water and looking across at the lines of clicking horns and starting eyes where the deer and the pig pushed each other to and fro.

The quick-spread ears of the deer caught the last sentence, and a frightened whisper ran along the ranks.

One could hear the scuffling, snorting pig asking for more room; the buffaloes grunting among themselves as they lurched out across the sand-bars, and the deer telling pitiful stories of their long foot-sore wanderings in quest of food.

He waited a little to enjoy the sensation he made among the deer on the opposite to lap, growling: "The jungle has become a whelping-ground for naked cubs now.

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