adder

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“
So soon therefore as they saw my face they ran again into the mouth of their dam, whom I killed, and then found each of them shrouded in a distinct cell or pannicle in her belly, much like unto a soft white jelly, which maketh me to be of the opinion that our adder is the viper indeed.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun One that adds, especially a computational device that performs arithmetic addition.
  2. noun See viper.
  3. noun Any of several nonvenomous snakes, such as the milk snake of North America, popularly believed to be harmful.
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Examples (50)

  • Not certain whether an adder, as these I think usually have a sort of broad arrow mark (^) all down the back.
  • In this he has the superiority over the viper; he knows that his poison has taken effect, when he hears the victim cry;—the adder is deaf . —  Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 6 (of 6)
  • In this he has the superiority over the viper; he knows that his poison has taken effect when he hears the victim cry;—the adder is deaf . —  Life of Lord Byron, With His Letters And Journals, Vol. 5
  • As I brought it into the light, I saw that it was a black variety of the puff adder, which is among the most poisonous serpents of Africa. —  In the Wilds of Africa
  • "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet And the forces of nature shall be in friendly co-operation. —  My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from an addre, alteration of a naddre, a snake, from Old English nǣdre, snake.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English adder, addere, addre, edder, eddre, etc., forms interchanging with the more correct nadder, naddere, naddre, nadre, neddere, neddre, etc. (through confusion of a nadder with an adder; cf. apron, auger, orange, umpire, which have lost their initial n in the same way), from Anglo-Saxon nædre, næddre = Old Saxon nadra = Dutch adder = Old High German natara, natra, Middle High German natere, nater, German natter = Icelandic nathra, feminine, nathr, masculine, = Gothic (Moesogothic) nadrs = Irish nathair = Welsh neidr, a snake, a serpent. The L. natrix, a water-snake, is a different word, properly a swimmer, from nare, swim. The word has no connection with atter, poison, q. v.
  2. from add + -er.
 

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/ˈædər/
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