roebuck
(ˈrəʊbʌk)
Forms: α. 5 ra(a)buke, rabukk, 6 raybuck, Sc. rebuke. β. 4–6 ro-, 5 roo-, 6 rho-, rowe-, 5, 7 roebucke, 6– roebuck.
[f. roe1 + buck. Cf. MDu. reebuck (Du. -bok), OHG. rêhbock (G. rehbock), ON. rábukkr (MSw. robuk, Sw. råbock).]
The buck or male of the roe-deer; a male roe.
| α 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 700 Hec capra, a rabuke. 1471 Exch. Rolls Scotl. VIII. 36 De ij capitibus de rabukkis. 1483 Cath. Angl. 298/1 Raa buke, capreus, caprea. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 338 Wther small beistis as re and rebuke. |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxxi. (Bodl. MS.), Ceruus is þe name of þe herte of þe bucke and of þe Robucke. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) iii, He is more lasse þen an hert and he is more þenn a Roo bucke. 1486 Bk. St. Albans e ij b, A fayre Roobucke and a fayre doo. 1530 Palsgr. 263/1 Rho bucke, a beest. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 143 He is not called a greate Rowebucke, but a fayre Rowbucke. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 24 He would him make.. the Robuckes in flight to overtake. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 739 They took them to be Serpents, being in quantity as big as Roe-bucks. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 106 Roe-buck. The flesh is better than that of other wild creatures. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 296 This natural wall along which..a Roe-buck would hardly have clamber'd. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 71 They resemble the roe-buck in the colour and nature of their hair. 1801 Shaw Gen. Zool. II. 288 It is about the size of the common or European Roebuck. 1881 Greener Gun 513 Roe bucks are occasionally stalked with the ·360 Express rifle. |
| attrib. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) iv, Þe Roo bucke flessh is most holsome to eete of eny. 1551 Records of Elgin (New Spald. Cl.) I. 107 Tua raybuck skynnis. 1801 Shaw Gen. Zool. II. 289 A pair of horns of some animal of the Roebuck kind. 1892 Macpherson Fauna Lakeland 72 A coat of arms which included three Roebuck heads. |