Definition of "deerhound" []

• A dog of an old breed developed in Scotland, related to and resembling the greyhound but taller and larger and having a wiry coat. It was originally bred for hunting deer. Also called Scottish deerhound. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Third, Sir Walter Scott got it crack-on when he called the deerhound ‘the most perfect creature of heaven.’"
• "The deerhound is a dog of marvellous swiftness, and, like an arrow from the bow, Fleetfoot shot across the open space and gained the wood."
• "But supposing I had never met any specimen of the canine race but a King Charles spaniel, and on seeing a Scotch deerhound in the possession of a friend was told that the man had a 'dog:' I should be justified in doubting whether the deerhound was a dog at all in the sense in which the tiny spaniel -- the only dog I had ever seen -- represented the canine race in my mind and experience."