Adjacent Words

reindeer moss definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an erect greyish branching lichen of Arctic and even some north temperate regions constituting the chief food for reindeer and caribou and sometimes being eaten by humans [syn: reindeer moss, reindeer lichen, arctic moss, Cladonia rangiferina]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1753 a gray, erect, tufted, and much-branched lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) that forms extensive patches in arctic and north-temperate regions, constitutes a large part of the food of caribou, and is sometimes eaten by humans — called also reindeer lichen

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Reindeer Rein"deer` (r?n"d?r), n. [Icel. hreinn reindeer + E. deer. Icel. hreinn is of Lapp or Finnish origin; cf. Lappish reino pasturage.] [Formerly written also raindeer, and ranedeer.] (Zool.) Any ruminant of the genus Rangifer, of the Deer family, found in the colder parts of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and having long irregularly branched antlers, with the brow tines palmate. Note: The common European species (R. tarandus) is domesticated in Lapland. The woodland reindeer or caribou (R. caribou) is found in Canada and Maine (see Caribou.) The Barren Ground reindeer or caribou (R. Gr[oe]nlandicus), of smaller size, is found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in both hemispheries. Reindeer moss (Bot.), a gray branching lichen (Cladonia rangiferina) which forms extensive patches on the ground in arctic and even in north temperature regions. It is the principal food of the Lapland reindeer in winter. Reindeer period (Geol.), a name sometimes given to a part of the Paleolithic era when the reindeer was common over Central Europe.