Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A female deer.
  • noun The female of various other mammals, such as antelopes, kangaroos, mice, or rabbits.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The female of the deer (the feminine corresponding to buck) and of most antelopes.
  • noun The female of the hare or rabbit.
  • noun An obsolete spelling of do.
  • noun The wooden ball used in the game of shinty. Also called knowt.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A female deer or antelope; specifically, the female of the fallow deer, of which the male is called a buck. Also applied to the female of other animals, as the rabbit. See the Note under buck.
  • noun A feat. [Obs.] See do, n.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A female deer; also used of similar animals such as reindeer, antelope, goat.
  • noun A female fallow deer.
  • noun A female rabbit.
  • noun A female hare.
  • noun A female squirrel.
  • noun A female kangaroo
  • verb Archaic spelling of do.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the federal department responsible for maintaining a national energy policy of the United States; created in 1977
  • noun mature female of mammals of which the male is called `buck'

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English do, from Old English .]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English do, from Old English  ("female deer"), from Proto-Germanic *dajjōn (“female deer, mother deer”), from Proto-Germanic *dajjanan (“to suckle”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰēy- (“to suck (milk), to suckle”). Cognate with Scots da, dae ("female deer"), Alemannic German  ("doe"), Danish  ("deer, doe"), Sanskrit धेनुः (dhénā, "cow, milk-cow"), Old English dēon ("to suckle"), Old English delu ("teat"). Related also to fellatio, filial, fetus.

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Examples

  • I love hunting deer and at the end of the season if I don't see a big buck then the next biggest doe is the next best thing.

    Deer populations are low 2009

  • With both sexes poised to breed, it stands to reason a mechanism must be in place if the doe is to enter estrus and be bred under the darker phases of the moon, which is the third quarter to first quarter.

    The Rut 2009

  • Even if you get a doe tag for a buck only unit, through the special lottery system, it will be in a unit where taking even a doe is really difficult.

    Big Buck or Big Brother? 2009

  • I love hunting deer and at the end of the season if I don't see a big buck then the next biggest doe is the next best thing.

    Deer populations are low 2009

  • One buck can produce many offspring a year but each doe is capable of only one birthing a year (usually single although twins happen occaisionaly and triplets rarely).

    Wisconsin Senator Demands Firing of State Deer Managers 2009

  • Even if you get a doe tag for a buck only unit, through the special lottery system, it will be in a unit where taking even a doe is really difficult.

    Big Buck or Big Brother? 2009

  • Any deer that I kill, buck or doe, is a trophy to me.

    Ohio Man Busted With Canned Deer 2009

  • Any deer that I kill, buck or doe, is a trophy to me.

    Ohio Man Busted With Canned Deer 2009

  • The stag, locking horns with a rival over the possession of a doe, is highly irrational; but the same stag, hiding its trail from the hounds by taking to water, is performing a highly rational act.

    The Kempton-Wace Letters 2010

  • One buck can produce many offspring a year but each doe is capable of only one birthing a year (usually single although twins happen occaisionaly and triplets rarely).

    Wisconsin Senator Demands Firing of State Deer Managers 2009

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