Stag
adv, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An adult male deer, especially a red deer and especially one in high adulthood versus a young adult. countable
"The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park."
- 2 adult male deer wordnet
- 3 A young horse (colt or filly). Scotland, countable
- 4 a male deer, especially an adult male red deer wordnet
- 5 A male turkey: a turkeycock. British, countable, uncountable
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- 6 A romping girl; a tomboy. broadly, countable, obsolete
- 7 An improperly or late castrated bull or ram – also called a bull seg (see note under ox). countable
- 8 An outside irregular dealer in stocks, who is not a member of the exchange. countable
- 9 One who applies for the allotment of shares in new projects, with a view to sell immediately at a premium, and not to hold the stock. countable
- 10 An unmarried man; a bachelor; a man not accompanying a woman at a social event. attributive, countable, usually
"a stag dance; a stag party; a stag bar"
- 11 A social event for men held in honor of a groom on the eve of his wedding, attended by male friends of the groom; sometimes a fundraiser. countable
"The stag will be held in the hotel's ballroom."
- 12 An informer. countable, slang
"We had two disturbers of the harmony of the ship; I mean two stags or informers, one named Robert Wilson, the other John Hewit, from the north of Ireland."
- 13 Guard duty. UK, slang, uncountable
"Between shifts on stag or manning the radio, we grabbed a few hours sleep."
- 14 A stag beetle (family Lucanidae). countable
"Members of the genus Pasimachus […] can be confused with stag beetles […] but stags have elbowed antennae."
- 15 The Eurasian wren, Troglodytes troglodytes. countable
- 1 To act as a "stag", an irregular dealer in stocks. British, intransitive
- 2 watch, observe, or inquire secretly wordnet
- 3 To watch; to dog, or keep track of. transitive
- 4 give away information about somebody wordnet
- 5 attend a dance or a party without a female companion wordnet
- 1 Of a man, attending a formal social function without a date. not-comparable
"My brother went stag to prom because he couldn't find a date."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"He drew a bead on a stag at bay."
Etymology
From Middle English stagge, steg, from Old English stagga, stacga (“a stag”) and Old Norse steggi, steggr (“a male animal”), both from Proto-Germanic *staggijô, *staggijaz (“male, male deer, porcupine”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *stegʰ-, *stengʰ- (“to sting; rod, blade; sharp, stiff”). Cognate with Icelandic steggi, steggur (“tomcat, male fox”). Related to staggard, staggon.