adder
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈædɚ/
rhymes: -ædə(ɹ)
Forms: form: adders
form: edder
Etymology: From Middle English nadder, addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre (“snake”), from Proto-West Germanic *nadrā, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ, from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂, from *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”).
See also West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter; also Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx (“watersnake”), Dutch naaien.
Senses: examples: text: CALIBAN: His spirits hear me, / And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch / Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i'th' mire, / Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark / Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but / For every trifle are they set upon me, / Sometimes like apes that mow and chatter at me, / And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which / Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount / Their pricks at my footfall; sometimes am I / All wound with adders, who with their cloven tongues / Do hiss me into madness—
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
glosses: Any snake.
examples: text: Entirely filled with the image of another, her heart, indeed, had the deaf ear of the adder, which heedeth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 245:
text: These include the county's [Cumbria's] only venomous snake - the adder - which relies on exposed elements to successfully breed its young.
ref: 2021 August 25, Nick Brodrick, “Flourishing Flora and Fauna”, in RAIL, number 938, page 51:
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera
A common European adder (Vipera berus).
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
A puff adders, of Africa (genus Bitis).
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling adders
A milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum).
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling adders
A hog-nosed snake, of genus Heterodon of harmless colubrid snakes found in North America
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
Certain venomous snakes resembling other adders
Death adders (Acanthophis spp.), elapid snakes found in Southeast Asia and Australia
glosses: A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.
Certain venomous snakes resembling other adders
A northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen), a venomous viper found in the eastern United States
glosses: A sea stickleback or adder fish (Spinachia spinachia).
Derived terms: word: adder bead
word: adderbolt
word: adder fish
word: adder fly
word: adderlike
word: adder stone
word: adderwort
word: butterfly adder
word: common death adder
word: deaf adder
word: death adder
word: Gaboon adder
word: hissing adder
word: horned adder
word: Kimberley death adder
word: night adder
word: pit adder
word: pit-adder
taxonomic: Bitis arietans
word: puff adder
word: sea adder
word: water adder