Definition of "roe"

roe¹

/ˈɹəʊ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural roes
1. The eggs of fish.
2. The sperm of certain fish.
3. The ovaries of certain crustaceans.

roe²

/ˈɹəʊ/

noun
plural roe or roes
1. Short for roe deer.
  Quotations
  And let his foes like flockes of feareful Roes,Purſude by hunters, flie his angry lookes,That I may ſee him iſſue Conquerour.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act III, scene iii
  "[...] and we may, God willing, meet with a roe. The roe, Captain Waverley, may be hunted at all times alike; for never being in what is called pride of grease, he is also never out of season, though it be a truth that his venison is not equal to that of either the red or fallow deer. But he will serve to show how my dogs run [...]"
  1814, Walter Scott, chapter 12, in Waverley
2. A mottled appearance of light and shade in wood, especially in mahogany.

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