The flesh of a deer used as food; venison.
Compound of 'deer' and 'meat' from Old English 'mete' (food). While 'venison' (from French 'venaison') became the formal culinary term, 'deermeat' persisted in English dialects and practical hunting contexts.
The word 'venison' is pure French (from Norman-French hunters), but rural English speakers kept saying 'deermeat'—a linguistic split that mirrors the class divide between Norman French nobles and Anglo-Saxon peasants after 1066.
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