The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Deuteronomy \Deu`ter*on"o*my\, n. [Gr. ?; ? second + ? law: cf.
   L. Deuteronomium.] (Bibl.)
   The fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing the second
   giving of the law by Moses. Deuteropathia

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Deuteronomy
    n 1: the fifth book of the Old Testament; contains a second
         statement of Mosaic law [syn: Deuteronomy, Book of
         Deuteronomy]

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Deuteronomy
   In all the Hebrew manuscripts the Pentateuch (q.v.) forms one
   roll or volume divided into larger and smaller sections called
   _parshioth_ and _sedarim_. It is not easy to say when it was
   divided into five books. This was probably first done by the
   Greek translators of the book, whom the Vulgate follows. The
   fifth of these books was called by the Greeks Deuteronomion,
   i.e., the second law, hence our name Deuteronomy, or a second
   statement of the laws already promulgated. The Jews designated
   the book by the two first Hebrew words that occur, _'Elle
   haddabharim_, i.e., "These are the words." They divided it into
   eleven _parshioth_. In the English Bible it contains thirty-four
   chapters.

     It consists chiefly of three discourses delivered by Moses a
   short time before his death. They were spoken to all Israel in
   the plains of Moab, in the eleventh month of the last year of
   their wanderings.

     The first discourse (1-4:40) recapitulates the chief events of
   the last forty years in the wilderness, with earnest
   exhortations to obedience to the divine ordinances, and warnings
   against the danger of forsaking the God of their fathers.

     The seond discourse (5-26:19) is in effect the body of the
   whole book. The first address is introductory to it. It contains
   practically a recapitulation of the law already given by God at
   Mount Sinai, together with many admonitions and injunctions as
   to the course of conduct they were to follow when they were
   settled in Canaan.

     The concluding discourse (ch. 27-30) relates almost wholly to
   the solemn sanctions of the law, the blessings to the obedient,
   and the curse that would fall on the rebellious. He solemnly
   adjures them to adhere faithfully to the covenant God had made
   with them, and so secure for themselves and their posterity the
   promised blessings.

     These addresses to the people are followed by what may be
   called three appendices, namely (1), a song which God had
   commanded Moses to write (32:1-47); (2) the blessings he
   pronounced on the separate tribes (ch. 33); and (3) the story of
   his death (32:48-52) and burial (ch. 34), written by some other
   hand, probably that of Joshua.

     These farewell addresses of Moses to the tribes of Israel he
   had so long led in the wilderness "glow in each line with the
   emotions of a great leader recounting to his contemporaries the
   marvellous story of their common experience. The enthusiasm they
   kindle, even to-day, though obscured by translation, reveals
   their matchless adaptation to the circumstances under which they
   were first spoken. Confidence for the future is evoked by
   remembrance of the past. The same God who had done mighty works
   for the tribes since the Exodus would cover their head in the
   day of battle with the nations of Palestine, soon to be invaded.
   Their great lawgiver stands before us, vigorous in his hoary
   age, stern in his abhorrence of evil, earnest in his zeal for
   God, but mellowed in all relations to earth by his nearness to
   heaven. The commanding wisdom of his enactments, the dignity of
   his position as the founder of the nation and the first of
   prophets, enforce his utterances. But he touches our deepest
   emotions by the human tenderness that breathes in all his words.
   Standing on the verge of life, he speaks as a father giving his
   parting counsels to those he loves; willing to depart and be
   with God he has served so well, but fondly lengthening out his
   last farewell to the dear ones of earth. No book can compare
   with Deuteronomy in its mingled sublimity and tenderness."
   Geikie, Hours, etc.

     The whole style and method of this book, its tone and its
   peculiarities of conception and expression, show that it must
   have come from one hand. That the author was none other than
   Moses is established by the following considerations: (1.) The
   uniform tradition both of the Jewish and the Christian Church
   down to recent times. (2.) The book professes to have been
   written by Moses (1:1; 29:1; 31:1, 9-11, etc.), and was
   obviously intended to be accepted as his work. (3.) The
   incontrovertible testimony of our Lord and his apostles (Matt.
   19:7, 8; Mark 10:3, 4; John 5:46, 47; Acts 3:22; 7:37; Rom.
   10:19) establishes the same conclusion. (4.) The frequent
   references to it in the later books of the canon (Josh. 8:31; 1
   Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Chr. 23:18; 25:4; 34:14; Ezra 3:2;
   7:6; Neh. 8:1; Dan. 9:11, 13) prove its antiquity; and (5) the
   archaisms found in it are in harmony with the age in which Moses
   lived. (6.) Its style and allusions are also strikingly
   consistent with the circumstances and position of Moses and of
   the people at that time.

     This body of positive evidence cannot be set aside by the
   conjectures and reasonings of modern critics, who contended that
   the book was somewhat like a forgery, introduced among the Jews
   some seven or eight centuries after the Exodus.


Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's):

Deuteronomy, repetition of the law