Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- one of the solid deciduous horns, usually branched, of an animal of the deer family.
noun
- one of a pair of bony outgrowths on the heads of male deer and some related species of either sex. The antlers are shed each year and those of some species grow more branches as the animal ages
late 14c., from Anglo-French auntiler, Old French antoillier (14c., Modern French andouiller) “antler,” perhaps from Gallo-Romance cornu *antoculare “horn in front of the eyes,” from Latin ante “before” (see ante) + ocularis “of the eyes” (see ocular). This etymology is doubted by some because no similar word exists in any other Romance language, but cf. German Augensprossen “antlers,” literally “eye-sprouts,” for a similar formation.